2~* 


BY  EDMONDO  DE  AMICIS. 


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"  I  take  pleasure  in  stating  that  the  editions  of  my  works 
issued  by  Messrs.  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons  have,  from  the  out- 
set, been  published  with  my  authorization,  and  that  the 
publishers  have  remitted  to  me  each  year  the  author's 
share  of  the  proceeds  of  their  sales." 

EDMONDO  HE  AMICIS. 

Turin,  Dec.  26,  1890. 


G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS,  NEW  YORK  AND  LONDON 


or  cmrr.  HWMIIT.  LOS 


ON  BLUE  WATER 
*  BY  EDMONDO  DE 
AMICIS  *  *  * 


TRANSLATED   BY 
JACOB  B.  BROWN 


Illustrates 


NEW  YORK  &  LONDON  <   G.  P. 
PUTNAM'S  SONS 


COPYRIGHT,  1897 

BY 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 
Entered  at  Stationers'  Hall,  London 


Ube  Knickerbocker  press,  flew  JJorl; 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I. — THE  EMBARKATION  OF  THE  EMIGRANTS  ...          1 

II. — THE  GULF  OF  LYONS          .         .         .         .         .12 

III. — ITALY  ON  BOARD  SHIP        .  ...       29 

IV. — FORWARD  AND  AFT     .  ...       44 

Y. — LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN     .         .         .         .         .70 

YI. — LOVES  AND  GRIEVANCES      .....       80 

TIL— THE  TROPIC  OF  CANCER  .         .         .         .118 

YIIL— A  YELLOW  OCEAN     .  ....     138 

IX. — CHARACTERS  IN  THE  STEERAGE      .         .         .         .160 

X.— THE  WOMEN'S  CABIN 179 

XI. — CROSSING  THE  LINE  .         .          .         .         .         .193 

XII. — LITTLE  GALILEO  .         .         .         .212 

XIII.— A  SEA  OF  FIRE  .         .         .         .232 

XIY.— A  BLUE  SEA 245 

XY. — DEATH  ON  BOARD  ....  268 

XVI.— DEVIL  DAY       .  ....  289 

XYII. — IN  EXTREMIS 307 

XYIII.— TO-MORROW  !    .  ...  332 

XIX. — AMERICA  .  .         .     353 

XX. — THE  PLATA  RIVER      .  .  .     369 

iii 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE. 

Edmondo  de  Amicis,  in  his  book,  SulV  Oceano, 
11  On  Blue  Water,"  has  given  an  account  of  a  voyage 
from  Genoa  to  Buenos  Ayres  in  the  Galileo,  a 
steamer  carrying  emigrants, — this  and  nothing  more. 
The  narrative  begins  at  the  wharf  at  Genoa,  and 
ends  when  the  tug  leaves  the  ship's  side  in  the  harbor 
of  Montevideo.  The  ship  does  not  even  touch  at 
Gibraltar.  The  interest  in  the  story,  and  it  is  not 
small,  lies  entirely  in  the  study  of  the  types  of  hu- 
manity on  board.  The  writer's  observant  eye  has 
singled  out,  his  lively  imagination  has  characterized, 
and  his  ready  pen  has  described  at  least  twenty 
different  groups  and  characters  taken  from  both  ends 
of  the  vessel,  all  dramatic,  saying  and  doing  in  every 
case  just  what  such  persons  would  say  and  do. 
Nothing  is  exaggerated,  nothing  is  improbable. 
And  these  personalities  are  kept  quite  separate  and 
distinct  without  the  mention  of  a  single  name. 

De    Amicis   seem    to  have  made  the  voyage   on 
purpose  to  write  the  book.     The  "  commissary  "  on 


vi  translator's  pretace. 

board  the  ship,  to  whom  the  writer  had  due  in- 
troduction, and  who  is  himself  a  rare  character,  was 
able  to  point  out  to  his  guest — so  to  speak — all  the 
life  that  was  going  on ;  and  most  inordinately  must 
he  have  enjoyed  talking  it  over  with  so  appreciative 
a  companion. 

It  has  been  well  said  that  the  beauty  of  De  Amicis' 
travels  is  that  they  are  more  than  travels.  They  are 
not  merely  the  record  of  so  many  passages  a  day  ; 
they  are  travellings  plus  seeings,  listenings,  feelings, 
thinkings,  talkings,  love-makings ; — all  that  a  warm- 
hearted, imaginative,  educated  young  tourist  would 
engage  in  ;  yet  they  are  told  without  displeasing 
egotism  or  tedious  detail. 

His  temperament  is  such  that  he  is  at  home  any- 
where. He  can  go  off  like  Mungo  Park  on  an  hour's 
warning.  He  enjoys  everything  he  sees,  and  sees 
everything  that  is  to  be  enjoyed. 

The  publishers  under  whose  imprint  this  volume 
appears,  have  previously  issued  the  authorized  trans- 
lations of  the  earlier  works  by  De  Amicis  on  Con- 
stantinople, Holland,  Spain,  Morocco,  Italy,  and 
Paris. 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


"  OVERCOME  "  .         .       Frontispiece 

DONKEY  ENGINE    ...                           ...  3 

"  THROUGH  THE  OPEN  HATCHWAY  I  MARKED  A  WOMAN 

WITH    HER    HEAD    IN    THE    BERTH    AND    SOBBING  VIO- 
LENTLY "                ........  5 

"  THE  HUGE  STEAMER  MUST  HAVE  BEEN  LIKE  A  NEW 

WORLD  TO  THEM"    .....  .7 

"  BURST  OUT  CRYING  " 8 

"  VIVA  L'  ITALIA  "  .                                      .  9 

IN  PORT           ......  11 

"  A  STEWARD  CAME  IN  WITH  THE  COFFEE  "     ...  13 

"OVERCOME"          ........  15 

"  LAY  HUDDLED  TOGETHER  "   .          .          .          .          .          .17 

"  HER  EYES  RATHER   TOO   BLUE,   HER   NOSE   WITHOUT 

CHARACTER"     ........  19 

"  NEXT  HIM  A  COUPLE  OF  YOUNG  LADIES  WHO  APPEARED 

TO  BE  RELATIVES  OR  FRIENDS  "         ....  21 

"  PERFECT  FREEDOM  FROM  CARE  "  .                   ...  27 

"  IDLE  FROM  NECESSITY  "  .31 

"  ABOVE  ALL  THE  FOREMAST"                                             .  38 

BLOCK  AND  TACKLE         .                           ....  39 

LIFE-RING        ...                                    ...  41 

"  I  AM  MIGHTY,  BUT  I  FIGHT  FAIR  "                                  .  43 

vii 


viii  "(Illustrations. 

"  DRESSING  THE  CHILDREN  "  .         .         .         .  .  .45 

"  THE  PROFESSOR-HUSBAND  "  .  .74 

"WINDLASS"          .         .  .  .  .       79 

"  CONJUGATING  THE  VERBS  IN  AN  UNDERTONE  "  .  .82 
"  WOMEN  STOOD  ABOUT  WITH  THEIR  INFANTS  IN  THEIR 

ARMS  AS  AT  THE  CORNERS  OF  THE  STREETS"  .  .       87 

"  HlS  EYES  FIXED,  HIS  FOREHEAD  WRINKLED5'  .  .       89 

"  No  ONE  TOOK  ANY  HEED  "     .  .92 

"  MENDING  HIS  SLEEVE  "          ......       96 

"  LISTENING  WITH  AN  AIR  OF  RESPECTFUL  DEFERENCE  "     104 

"MOLLUSKS"  ....       113 

THE  COMMISSARY    ........     121 

"  SENDING  A  DOUBLE  SPRAY  OF  WORDS  INTO  THE  EAR  OF 
HER  HUSBAND  ON  HER  LEFT,  AND  OVER  THE  TENOR 
ON  HER  RIGHT  ".......  127 

"  THE  TALL  PRIEST " 133 

"  HE  FAILED  NOT  TO  '  RATTLE  DOWN  '  THE  STEWARDS  "  .       143 

"  GRINDING  OUT  CURSES  "                         ....  145 

"  GRAY,  RUFFLED  SEA  "  .                                                      .  159 

"READY  FOR  ANYTHING"        .                   ....  168 

"  HE  OWED  HIS  POPULARITY  TO  A  LARGE  ALBUM  FULL  OF 

NASTY  CARICATURES  "       .         .         .         .         .         .171 

"  HlS  ATTENTION  HAD  BEEN  ATTRACTED  BY  THE  TELE- 
GRAPHIC DIAL"                     .                               ...  175 

"  LITTLE  GALILEO  "                  .                                             .  192 
"  EXPLAINING  THE  EQUATOR  TO  A  GROUP  OF  EMIGRANTS 

IN  IDIOTICALLY  SCIENTIFIC  PHRASEOLOGY  "       .         .  197 

"  THE  SECOND  OFFICER  WAS  A  MARINE  PAINTER  "  .         .  202 
ON  DECK                  .                  .                  .                           .211 

"  AKTKR  THEM  CAME  THE  MOTHER,  HELD  ROUND   THE 

WAIST  BY  THE  HUNCHBACK  SAILOR"  223 


11 1  lustrations.  ix 

'  LAST  CAME  ONE  OF  THE  TWINS  WITH   A  BIT   OF  CANDLE 

IN  HIS  HAND  ".....                          .  227 

"  HE  TURNED  HIS  BACK  TO  THE  SUNSET "                          .             .  240 

ON  THE  FORECASTLE  HEAD     ....                  .  244 

"  THE  BIG  BOI.OGNESE  "...                  .  250 
"  MOVES   A   WHEEL   OF  WOOD    WITH    A    TURN    OF   THE 

HAND  ".........  255 

"  IT    'S    NO    USE    THEIR    SAYING,    DON'T    EMIGRATE,    DON'T 

EMIGRATE  "........  273 

"  ON  ONE  SIDE  APPEARED  THE  WAXEN  FACE  OF   THE 

FRIAR" 285 

"  THE    TWO    THRONGS    OF    MEN    EACH    CROWDED    FOR- 
WARD "     .305 

THE  MID-SHIP  DECK 306 

ON  THE  BOOM          ......                  .  326 

"  THE  BIG  BOLOGNESE  AND  HER  POUCH  "...  337 
"  HARANGUING  AWAY   TO   A  LARGER  AUDIENCE    THAN 

USUAL" 338 

"  THE  SIGNAL  OFFICER  "...                  .  357 

HARBOR  STEAMER  AND  BA"RGE  373 


CHAPTER  I 


THE    EMBARKATION    OF   THE    EMIGRANTS 


T  was  towards  evening  when  I 
reached  the  wharf.  The  embark- 
ation of  the  emigrants  had  been 

o 

going  on  for  an  hour ;  and  there 
lay  the  Galileo 1  filling  up  with 
misery  as  there  passed  over  her 
gangplank  an  interminable  procession  of  people, 
coining  in  groups  out  of  the  building  opposite  where 
the  police  official  was  examining  passports.  The 
greater  part,  having  passed  a  night  or  two  in  the 
open  air,  lying  about  like  dogs  in  the  streets  of 
Genoa,  were  tired  and  drowsy.  Workmen,  peasants, 
women  with  children  at  the  breast,  little  fellows 
with  the  tin  medal  of  the  Infant  Asylum  still  hang- 

!  Not  the  Galileo  of  the  Societa  di  Navigazione  Geuerale. 


2  ©n  Blue  Mater. 

ing  around  their  necks,  passed  on  their  way,  and 
almost  everyone  was  carrying  something.  They  had 
folding  chairs,  they  had  bags  and  trunks  of  every 
shape  in  their  hands  or  on  their  heads;  their  arms 
were  full  of  mattresses  and  bedclothes,  and  their 
berth  tickets  were  held  fast  in  their  mouths.  Poor 
mothers  that  had  a  child  for  each  hand  carried  their 
bundles  with  their  teeth.  Old  peasant  women  in 
wooden  shoes,  holding  up  their  skirts  so  as  not  to 
stumble  over  the  cleats  of  the  gangplank,  showed 
bare  legs  that  were  like  sticks.  Many  were  bare- 
foot and  had  their  shoes  hung  around  their  necks. 
From  time  to  time  there  passed  through  all  this 
wretchedness  gentlemen  in  natty  dusters,  priests, 
ladies  in  plumed  hats,  leading  a  lapdog,  or  carrying 
a  satchel,  or  perhaps  a  parcel  of  French  novels  of 
the  well-known  Levy  edition.  Then,  suddenly,  a 
stoppage  of  the  procession  and,  amid  a  shower  of 
blows  and  curses,  a  drove  of  cattle  or  a  flock  of  sheep 
came  along ;  and  when  they  were  got  on  board,  all 
frightened  and  straggling  here  and  there,  they  min- 
gled their  bellowing  and  their  bleating  with  the 
neighing  of  the  horses  in  the  forward  part  of  the 
ship,  with  the  cries  of  sailors  and  porters,  and  with 
the  stunning  clatter  of  the  donkey  engine  that  was 
hoisting  in  whole  piles  of  packing-cases.  Then  the 
train  of  emigrants  moved  on  once  more;  faces  and 

O  ' 

costumes  from  every  part  of  Italy,  strong,  sad-eyed 
working  men,  others  old,  ragged,  dirty;  women  en- 


Embarkation  of  tbe  Emigrants.          3 

ceinte,  merry  boys,  half-tipsy  youths,  country  fellows 
in  their  shirt-sleeves ;  and  boys,  and  still  more  boys, 
who  hardly  had  put  foot  on  deck,  amid  that  throng 
of  passengers,  stewards,  officers,  company's 
employes,  and  custom-house  people,  when 
they  stood  amazed  or  lost  their  way  as 
if  in  a  crowded  square.     For  two 
hours  these 
people    had 
been    going 
on    board  ; 
and  the  great 
ship,   move- 
less, like  some 
grim  sea  mon- 
ster that  had 
fixed  its  fangs 
into  the  shore,  still  went  on  sucking  Italian  blood. 

The  emigrants,  as  fast  as  they  got  on  board,  filed 
in  front  of  a  table  at  which  was  seated  the  commis- 
sary, who  told  them  off  in  messes  of  half  a  dozen 
persons  each,  writing  the  names  upon  a  printed  form 
which  he  handed  to  the  eldest,  that  he  might  go  at 
meal  hours  and  get  the  ration.  Families  of  less  than 
six  persons  went  in  with  their  friends  or  with  stran- 
gers, as  the  case  might  be.  While  this  business  was 
going  on  there  was  evident  in  everyone  a  lively  fear 
of  being  cheated  in  the  matter  of  half-  and  quarter- 
fares  for  children  and  infants;  fruit  of  that  invinci- 


4  ©n  Blue  1<dater. 

ble  mistrust  which  the  peasant  feels  for  any  man 
with  a  pen  in  his  hand  and  a  registry  in  front  of 
him.  Quarrels  arose,  there  were  protests  and  lament- 
ations. Then  the  families  separated ;  the  men  were 
passed  to  one  side,  while  the  women  and  children 
were  shown  to  their  cabins.  And  piteous  it  was  to 
see  these  women  clumsily  descend  the  steep  ladders 
and  grope  their  way  through  the  long,  low  between- 
decks  among  innumerable  berths,  arranged  in  tiers 
like  the  shelves  in  a  silk- worm  shed.  Some,  all  per- 
plexed, would  inquire  about  a  lost  article  of  sailors 
who  did  not  understand  one  word  they  said  ;  some 
sat  down  wherever  it  mio-ht  be,  dazed  and  exhausted  ; 

O  * 

others  wandered  about  vaguely,  looking  with  uneasi- 
ness at  all  those  unknown  travelling  companions  who 
were  as  uneasy  as  they;  and,  like  them,  confused 
and  frightened  in  this  disorderly  throng.  Some  who 
had  come  down  one  ladder,  and  saw  others  leading 

O 

still  on,  down  into  the  dark,  refused  to  go  any  far- 
ther. Through  the  open  hatchway  I  marked  a  woman 
with  her  head  in  the  berth  and  sobbing  violently. 
I  soon  learned  that  her  young  child  had  died  almost 
suddenly  an  hour  or  two  before,  and  that  her  hus- 
band was  forced  to  leave  its  little  body  with  the 
police  to  be  taken  to  the  hospital.  Most  of  the 
women  remained  below,  while  the  men,  having  laid 
by  their  tilings,  went  on  deck  again  and  leaned 
against  the  bulwarks.  It  was  odd  enough.  The 

O 

huge  steamer,  seen    by  most  of  them  for  the  first 


"  Cbrougb  tbe  cpen  batcbwas  IT  mai-fee&  a  woman  witb  bet  bea6  in  tbc  bertb 
anJ>  sobbing 


6  ©n  Blue  Mater, 

time,  must  have  been  like  a  new  world,  full  of 
strangeness  and  of  mystery ;  and  yet  not  one  looked 
about  him  or  aloft,  or  paused  to  examine  any  of  those 
many  wonderful  objects  never  seen  before.  Some 
would  fix  an  attentive  eye  upon  a  trunk,  or  a  neigh- 
bor's chair,  or  the  number  on  a  box,  or  whatever  it 
might  be;  others  munched  an  apple,  or  nibbled  a 
crust, — examining  it  at  every  bite  as  placidly  as  if 
they  had  been  in  front  of  their  own  stable.  Some 
women  had  red  eyes ;  some  boys  were  giggling,  but 
their  mirth  was  plainly  forced.  The  greater  part 
showed  nothing  but  apathy  or  fatigue.  The  sky 
was  clouded  and  the  night  was  coming  on. 

Suddenly  furious  cries  were  heard  from  the  pass- 
port office,  and  people  were  seen  running  that  way. 
It  proved  to  be  a  peasant  with  a  wife  and  four  chil- 
dren,— all  found  by  the  examining  physician  to  have 
the  itch.  The  first  few  questions  had  shown  the  man 
to  be  out  of  his  mind  ;  and,  on  being  refused  a  pass- 
age, he  had  broken  out  into  frenzy. 

On  the  wharf  there  were  perhaps  a  hundred  per- 
sons. Very  few  relatives  of  our  emigrants.  The 
greater  part  loungers  or  relatives  of  our  ship's  com- 
pany, quite  used  to  such  separations. 

When  all  were  on  board  there  ensued  a  kind  of 
quiet  in  the  ship,  and  the  dull  rumble  of  the  engine 
could  be  heard.  Almost  all  were  on  deck,  crowded 
together  and  quite  silent.  These  last  few  moments 
of  waiting  seemed  an  eternity. 


8 


<§m  JBlue  Mater. 


At  last  the  sailors  were  heard  shouting  fore  and 
aft,  "  Clunon  epasseggiere,aterra" — All  ashore  that 's 
going  ashore. 

These  words  sent  a  thrill 
Galileo  to  the  other.     In 


out  of 
was  hauled   ashore, 


strangers  were 


from  one  end  of  the 
a  few  moments  all 
the  ship,  the  bridge 
/    the  fasts  cast  off,  the 
entering  port  closed,  a 
whistle   sounded,    and 
the    ship    began    to 
move.      Then    women 
burst  out  crying, 
youths  who  had 
3^,         been    laughing 
grew  serious,  and 
bearded    m  e  n 
hitherto    stolid 
were  seen  to  pass  a 
hand  across  their  eyes. 
This  emotion  contrasted 
strangely  with    the    cool 
salutes  that  passed  between 
the  ship's  company  and  their 
relatives  on  the  wharf, — just 
as  if  it  were  a  trip  to  Spezzia : 
"  Don't  forget  me  to  the  people 
at  home. — You  '11  see  about  that 
parcel  ? — Tell   Gigia  (Louisa)   I  '11  do  as  she  says. 
-Post  it  at  Montevideo,  please. — It  's  all   under- 


tlbe  ^Embarkation  of  tbe  Emigrants.          9 

stood  about  the  wine,  is  it  not  ? — Pleasant  voy- 
age to  you. — Good-bye  ! "  A  few  persons  who  had 
just  reached  the  wharf  had  only  time  to  fling  some 
bundles  of  cigars  or  some  oranges  on  board.  These 
were  duly  caught  but  some  of  the  last  ones  fell  into  the 
water.  Lights  began  to  twinkle  in  the  city.  The 
ship  slid  softly  along  through  the  darkness  of 
the  harbor  almost  furtively  as  it  were,  as  if  she  were 
carrying  off  a  cargo  of  kidnapped  humanflesh.  I 
made  my  way  forward  through  the  crowd  of  people 
all  turned  towards  the  land  and 
looking  at  the  amphitheatre  of 
Genoa,  now  being  rapidly  il- 
luminated. A  few  were  talk- 
ing in  low  tones.  Here  and 
there  in  the  dusk  women  were 
seen  with  infants  on  their  laps 
and  their  heads  leaned  hope- 
lessly on  their  hands.  From 
the  forecastle  a  voice  called 
out  in  sarcastic  tone,  "  Viva 
T1  Italia ! "  and  looking  up  I 
saw  a  tall  thin  old  man  who 
was  shaking  his  fist  at  his  na- 

O 

tive  country.     As  we  passed 
out  of  the  harbor  it  was  night. 

Saddened  by  this  spectacle  I  "Wv>a 

went  aft  again  to  the  first-class  cabin  to  find  my 
stateroom.     And  it  must  be  confessed  that  the  first 


10  <§>n  3Blue  Mater. 

descent  into  these  submarine  lodging-places  is  de- 
plorably like  going  for  the  first  time  into  a  prison 
with  its  cells.  In  those  low,  narrow  corridors, 
tainted  with  the  reek  of  bilge-water,  the  smell  of 

011  lamps,  the  fragrance  of  sheep-skins,  and   with 
wafts  of  perfume  from  the  ladies,  I  found  myself 
in  the  midst  of  hurrying  groups  who  all   wanted 
the   steward,   and    were    behaving    with    the    low- 

O 

minded  selfishness  which  characterizes  almost  all 
travellers  in  the  first  bustle  of  getting  settled.  A 
half-light  fell  upon  the  confusion  here  and  there,  and 
I  caught  glimpses  of  a  beautiful  blonde  lady,  three 
or  four  black-bearded  men,  a  very  tall  priest,  and 
the  broad,  bold  face  of  an  angry  stewardess.  I  heard 
Genoese,  French,  Italian,  Spanish.  At  a  turn  of  the 
corridor  I  came  upon  a  negress.  From  a  stateroom 
came  a  solfeggio  in  a  tenor  voice.  And  opposite  to 
that  stateroom  I  found  my  own, — a  cage  of  a  place, 
about  a  half  a  dozen  cubic  metres  in  size,  with  a 
Procrustean  bed  on  one  side,  a  sofa  on  the  other; 
on  the  third  a  barber's  mirror  over  a  fixed  wash-hand 
stand,  and  beside  the  mirror  a  lamp  on  gimbals, 
swinging  to  and  fro  as  if  to  say,  "  What  a  fool  you 
were  to  set  out  for  America."  Above  the  sofa 
gleamed  a  round  window  like  a  huge  glass  eye, 
which  seemed,  as  it  caught  mine,  to  wear  a  mocking 
expression.  And,  indeed,  the  idea  of  having  to 
sleep  for  twenty-four  nights  in  that  suffocating  cubi- 
culuin,  and  the  presentiment  of  the  deadly  duluess 


tlbe  Embarkation  of  tbe  Emigrants,         n 

the  heat  of  the  torrid  zone,  of  the  bumped  heads  I 
should  have  in  bad  weather,  for  six  thousand  miles 
-  But  it  was  too  late  to  repent.  I  looked  at  my 
baggage,  which  said,  O,  so  many  things  to  me  in  that 
moment;  I  handled  it  as  if  it  were  a  faithful  dog, 
the  last  living  relic  of  my  house ;  I  prayed  God  I 
might  not  repent  having  spurned  the  proposals  of  an 
insurance  agent  who  came  to  tempt  me  the  day  be- 
fore leaving ;  and  then,  blessing  in  my  heart  the  good 
faithful  friends  that  had  stood  by  me  imtil  the  last 
moment,  I  let  myself  be  rocked  to  sleep  upon  the 
cradle  of  my  country's  sea. 


CHAPTER  II 


THE    GULF    OF   LYONS 


HEX  I  awoke  it  was  broad  dayv 
and  the  ship  was  rolling  along 
in  the  Gulf  of  Lyons.  Suddenly 
I  heard  the  warblings  of  the  tenor 
from  the  stateroom  opposite;  and 
from  the  one  next  to  mine  a  sharp 
female  voice,  that  cried  :  "Your  brush!  What  do  I 
know  about  your  brush  ?  Find  it  yourself."  A 
voice  that  revealed  not  only  momentary  vexation, 
but  a  hard,  bitter  disposition  ;  and  which  made  one 
feel  deeply  for  the  owner  of  the  missing  article. 
Farther  on  another  female  voice  was  sinking  a  child 

o       o 

to  sleep.  It  was  a  queer  strain  with  a  modulation 
which  did  not  seem  to  belong  to  one  of  our  race.  I 
supposed  it  might  be  the  negress  I  had  seen  the 
evening  before.  The  song  was  marred  by  the  low 
hissing  voices  of  a  couple  of  stewardesses  disputing 
in  the  corridor  about  a  picaggietta  (a  towel).  1 
listened,  and  needed  but  few  of  their  words  to  per- 


<3ulf  of 


suade  me  that  if  there  be  a  woman  in  the  world  that 
can  hold  way  with  a  Genoese  stewardess,  it   is   a 
Venetian  one.     A  steward  came 
in  with  the  coffee.     The  first 
morning   one   notices 
everything.   He  was 
a    handsome,    disa- 
greeable-looking 
youth,  his  hair  drip- 
ping with  oil,  full  of 
himself  and  smiling 
at  his  own   beauty 
like  a  conceited  ac- 
tor.     When    asked 
what  his  name  was 
he  answered,   "  An- 
tonio," with  affected 
modesty  as  if  that 
Antonio    were    the 
assumed  name  of  a 
young  duke  disguised, 
with  some  amorous  design,  as 
a  cabin  steward.     When  he  had 
retired  I  went  out  myself,  stag- 
gering Up  against  the  bulkheads  ;   "»  Stewart)  came  fn  witb 
T     '  .          .  i  .  .  tbe  coffee." 

and,  turning  into  the  mam  corri- 
dor, I  marked  the  back  of  the  gigantic  priest  of  the 
evening  before  as  he  entered  his  stateroom.     A  step 
or  two  farther  on  I  caught  sight  through  the  crack 


14  <&n  Blue  Water. 

of  the  door,  and  just  as  the  green  curtain  fell,  of 
a  black-silk  stocking  being  drawn  by  white  hands 
upon  a  shapely  leg.  The  passengers  were  almost  all 
still  in  their  staterooms,  whence  issued  the  sounds 
of  water  being  splashed,  of  brushes  being  whisked, 
and  of  trunks  being  rummaged.  On  the  poop-deck 
were  three  persons  only.  The  sea  was  ruffled,  but 
of  a  beautiful  blue  color,  and  the  weather  was  fine. 
No  land  was  visible. 

But  the  sight  to  see  was  the  the  third-class  people. 
The  larger  part  of  these  emigrants,  overcome  with 
sea-sickness,  lay  huddled  together, — some  thrown 
across  the  benches  like  the  dead  or  dying,  with  faces 
all  dirty  and  hair  all  rumpled,  amid  a  tangle  of 
ragged  wraps.  There  were  families  crowded  in  pite- 
ous groups  with  the  dazed  and  dejected  look  of 
houseless  people ;  the  father  sitting  up  asleep,  the 
mother  with  her  head  on  his  shoulder,  the  chil- 
dren slumbering  on  the  deck  M'ith  their  heads  on 
their  parents'  knees, — mere  heaps  of  rags  with  noth- 
ing sticking  out  but  a  child's  arm  or  a  woman's  hair. 
Women,  pale  and  dishevelled,  were  moving  towards 
the  companion-way,  staggering  and  holding  on.  What 
Father  Bartoli  nobly  calls  "  the  pain  and  anger  of  the 
stomach  "  appeared  to  have  made  that  clearance, 
wished  for  by  every  good  captain,  of  the  bad  fruit  with 
which  emigrants  always  cram  themselves  at  Genoa, 
and  of  the  feeds  they  are  all  sworn  to  take  at  the  inn 
whenever  they  have  any  money.  Even  those  who 


16  <&n  ffilue  Mater. 

had  not  been  sick  were  haggard  and  cast  down  ; 
looking  more  like  convicts  than  emigrants.  It  seemed 
that  the  inactive  and  comfortless  life  on  board  ship 
had  already  quelled  in  most  of  them  the  courage  and 
the  hopes  with  which  they  had  set  out ;  and  that  in 
the  prostration  of  mind  which  follows  the  excitement 
of  parting  a  fresh  sense  had  arisen  of  all  the  doubts, 
the  troubles,  and  the  pangs  of  those  last  days  at 
home,  when  they  were  selling  their  cows  and  their 
little  bit  of  laud,  were  having  sharp  discussions  with 
the  landlord  or  the  parish  priest,  or  were  saying  their 
last  sad  farewells.  But  the  worst  was  below  in  the 
great  cabin,  the  hatchway  of  which  was  aft,  near  the 
poop-deck.  For  looking  down  one  saw,  in  the  half- 
light,  bodies  piled  upon  each  other  as  in  the  ships 
that  carry  home  the  corpses  of  Chinese  emigrants ; 
and  there  came  up,  as  from  an  underground  hospital, 
a  concert  of  wailing  and  retching  and  coughing  fit  to 
make  one  think  of  landing  at  Marseilles.  The  only 
pleasant  feature  was  the  sight  of  a  few  bold  spirits 
who  were  crossing  the  deck  from  the  galley  with 
their  pannikins  in  their  hands,  to  gain  a  place  where 
they  might  eat  in  peace.  Some,  by  dint  of  miracu- 
lous balancing,  succeeded ;  others,  stumbling,  fell 
headlong  and  scattered  their  broth  in  every  direction 
amid  an  outburst  of  execrations. 

I  heard  with  pleasure  the  bell  that  summoned  us 
to  breakfast,  where  I  hoped  to  see  a  somewhat  gayer 
picture. 


is  ©n  Blue  Mater. 

There  were  about  fifty  of  us  seated  at  a  long  table 
in  the  middle  of  a  vast  saloon,  rich  with  mirrors  and 
with  gilding,  and  lighted  by  numerous  air  ports 
through  which  we  could  see  the  horizon  swaying  up 
and  down.  While  taking  their  seats,  and  for  some 
moments  afterward,  the  guests  did  nothing  but  eye 
one  another ;  concealing  beneath  a  feigned  indiffer- 

7  O  O 

ence  that  prying  curiosity  which  we  always  feel  about 
unknown  persons  with  whom  we  are  to  live  for  some 
time  in  unavoidable  familiarity.  The  sea  being  a 
little  rough,  several  ladies  were  missing.  I  soon  re- 
marked at  the  end  of  the  table  the  gigantic  priest, 
taller  by  the  head  than  those  around  him  ;  it  was 
the  head  of  a  bird  of  prey,  small  and  bald,  with  red 
eyelids,  and  a  neck  of  interminable  extent.  I  was 
struck  with  his  hands  as  they  spread  the  napkin, 
huge,  bony,  with  fingers  like  the  tentacles  of  a  devil- 
fish ;  in  short,  an  unpoetical  Don  Quixote.  On  the 
same  side,  and  nearer  me,  I  recognized  the  blonde 
lady  I  had  noticed  the  evening  before.  She  was  a 
handsome  woman  of,  say,  thirty  years  old,  her  eyes 
rather  too  1)1  ue,  her  nose  without  character;  she  was 
fresh  and  lively,  and  was  dressed  with  an  elegance 
perhaps  a  little  too  marked.  She  turned  on  her 
neighbors,  as  if  she  knew  them  all,  the  vague  and 
smiling  look  of  a  dancer  at  the  footlights,  and  I  do 
not  know  what  it  was  that  made  me  quite  sure  she 
was  the  owner  of  those  stockings  that  had  caught 
my  eye  that  morning.  The  legal  proprietor  of  said 


tlbe  (Bulf  of 


silk  was  no  doubt  the  gentlemanly  quinquagenarian 
who  was  sitting  next  her.  He  had  a  kind  and  tran- 
quil face,  surrounded  by  a  professional  head  of  hair 


"Ifoer  esea  ratber  too  blue,  bcr  nose  wftbout  character." 

and  pierced  for  two  half-closed  eyes,  in  which  there 
gleamed  the  look  of  a  cleverness  more  apparent,  per- 
haps, than  real,  but  which  seemed  habitual.  Next 


20  ©n  Blue  Mater. 

him  a  couple  of  young  ladies  who  appeared  to  be 
relatives  or  intimate  friends.  One  was  dressed  in 
sea-green,  and  I  was  struck  with  her  pale  and  hollow 
face,  in  strong  contrast  with  her  black,  shining  hair, 
which  was  like  the  tresses  of  a  corpse.  She  had  a 
large  black  cross  about  her  neck.  There  was  a  droll 
little  married  couple,  bride  and  bridegroom  beyond  a 
doubt ;  very  young,  both  small,  like  two  little  Luc- 
chese  plaster  figures.  They  ate  with  downcast  eyes 
and  talked  without  looking  at  each  other,  embar- 

O  ' 

rassed,  and  shy  of  the  others  at  table.  I  took  him 
to  be  twenty  and  her  not  over  eighteen,  and  would 
have  wagered  that  not  more  than  a  fortnight  had 
passed  since  their  appearance  before  the  city  au- 
thorities ;  in  short,  a  white  nun  and  a  theological 
student  who  had  found  out  in  time  that  they  had 
mistaken  their  vocation.  On  one  side  of  the  bride- 
groom there  sat  in  state  a  matron  with  imperfectly 
dyed  hair,  her  bosom  up  to  her  chin,  and  a  great  face 
such  as  the  caricaturists  give  a  sulky  moon.  There 
were  above  the  mouth  unmistakable  traces  of  an  over- 
strong  depilatory.  She  ate  conscientiously,  having 
down  from  those  aerial  sideboards  that  swayed  above 
our  heads  like  chandeliers,  first  the  mustard  then  the 
pepper,  and  then  the  mustard  again ;  as  if  she  were  try- 
ing to  give  a  tone  to  a  worn-out  stomach,  or  to  a  hoarse 
voice  which  she  tried  from  time  to  time  with  a  bit 
of  a  cough.  At  the  head  of  the  table  was  the  cap- 
tain, a  kind  of  Hercules,  low  of  stature  and  frown- 


6ulf  ot 


21 


ing  of  visage,  red  of  hair  and  fiery  of  face.  He  talked 
in  good  Genoese  to  his  right-hand  neighbor,  and  in 
bad  Spanish  to  the  gentleman  on  his  left.  This  was 
a  tall,  old,  dried-tip  person  with  long,  very  white  hair, 
bright  deep-set 
eyes,  and  an  air 
about  him  that 
recalled  the  la- 
test portraits  of 
the  poet  Ham- 
erling.  As  the 
greater  part  of 
the  passengers 
were  strangers 
to  one  another, 
there  was  but 
little  conversa- 
tion, and  that  in 
low  tones,  ac- 
companied by 
the  jingle  of  the 
swinging  lamps, 
and  interrupted 
from  time  to  time  by  the  sharp  slap  on  the  table 
with  which  some  person  seized  an  escaping  apple 
or  orange.  A  phrase  of  Spanish,  followed  by  a 
burst  of  laughter,  caused  everyone  to  turn  toward 
the  end  of  the  cabin.  "  It  is  a  party  of  Argentines," 
said  the  passenger  on  my  left  hand.  As  I  turned 


bim  a  couple  of  voimg  la&fes  wbo  appeareo 
to  be  relatives  ov  frtent>0." 


22  ©n  JSlue  Mater. 

to  look  at  them  my  attention  was  caught  by  the 
handsome,  manly  face  of  my  right-hand  neighbor, 
whose  voice  I  had  not  yet  heard.  A  man  of  about 
forty,  looking  like  an  old  soldier,  stout  of  body,  but 
evidently  still  active;  hair  already  gray.  The  bold 
forehead  and  bloodshot  eyes  reminded  me  of  Nino 
Bixio,  but  the  lower  part  of  the  face  was  milder 
though  sad,  and  contracted  by  a  disdainful  expres- 
sion which  did  violence  to  the  gentleness  of  the 
mouth.  I  do  not  know  what  association  of  ideas  it 
was  that  made  me  think  of  one  of  those  noble  Gari- 
baldian  figures  of  the  year  '60  which  I  knew  from 
the  immortal  pages  of  Cesare  Abba,  and  I  quite 
made  up  my  mind  that  he  had  gone  through  that 
campaign  and  was  a  Lombard. 

While  I  was  looking  at  him  my  left-hand  neighbor 
dashed  his  fork  upon  the  table,  exclaiming,  "  It  's 
no  use ;  if  I  eat  I  am  ruined  ! " 

It  was  a  withered  little  man  with  a  face  as  of  one 
suffering  from  stomach-ache,  and  a  great  black  beard, 
too  long  for  him,  looking  as  if  it  were  fastened  on, 
like  a  jack-in-the-box.  I  asked  him  if  he  felt  ill, 
and  he  answered  with  the  easy  fluency  of  an  invalid 
when  he  is  talking  of  his  aches  and  his  pains. 

He  did  not  feel  ill,  or  rather  he  was  not  exactly 
suffering  from  sea-sickness.  His  was  a  special  trouble, 
rather  moral  than  physical,  an  invincible  aversion  to 
the  sea,  a  sombre  angry  disquietude  which  seized 
upon  him  the  moment  he  stepped  on  board,  and 


(Bulf  of  Xsons.  23 

which  never  left  him  until  he  landed,  even  though 
the  sea  were  like  a  lake  and  the  sky  like  a  mirror. 
He  had  crossed  several  times,  his  family  being  set- 
tled at  Mendoza  in  the  Argentine ;  but  he  suffered 
at  the  end  as  at  the  beginning.  By  day  he  felt  a 
languor  and  a  morbid  restlessness  ;  by  night  he  was 
tortured  with  incurable  insomnia  and  the  darkest 
imaginings  that  can  pass  through  the  mind  of  man. 
His  hatred  of  the  sea  rose  to  such  a  pitch  that  he 
would,  for  a  week  running,  never  look  at  it.  If  he 
came  across  a  description  of  it  in  a  book  he  would 
skip  the  passage.  In  fact,  he  declared  that  if  he 
could  reach  America  by  land  he  would  rather  travel 
in  that  way  a  year  than  make  this  trip  of  three 
weeks  by  sea.  So  far  down  was  he.  A  friend  of 
his,  a  doctor,  had  declared  in  jest,  but  he  himself 
firmly  believed,  that  this  violent  aversion  to  the  sea 
arose  from  no  other  cause  than  a  mysterious  presenti- 
ment that  he  would  be  drowned  in  a  shipwreck. 

"  Scid  se  leve  queste  idee  da  a  testa,  avvocato  !  " — O 
avvocato,  put  that  notion  out  of  your  head, — said  his 
neighbor  on  the  other  side.  The  advocate  shook  his 

O 

head  and  pointed  with  his  finger  to  the  bottom  of 
the  sea. 

Finding  that  this  gentleman  knew  some  of  the 
people  on  board,  I  asked  him  about  matters  and 
things.  How  correctly  I  had  judged  !  My  right- 
hand  neighbor,  he  told  me  was,  in  fact,  a  Lombard  ; 
he  had  heard  him  speak  Lombard  with  a  friend  on 


24  ©n  Blue  Mater. 

the  wharf  at  Genoa ;  and  a  Garibaldian  no  doubt, 
the  commissary  had  told  him  so  that  morning. 
"  But  how  did  you  know  ? "  he  asked  me  ;  and  I  am 
afraid  I  felt  rather  proud  of  my  power  of  guessing, 
and  showed  it.  He  went  on  with  his  details.  The 
family  at  the  end  of  the  table,  father,  mother,  and 
four  children,  was  a  Brazilian  family  going  to  Para- 
guay. The  young  fellow,  with  the  blonde  mus- 
taches, sitting  next  the  youngest  Brazilian  was,  he 
thought,  an  Italian  tenor  singer  (he  of  the  stateroom 
opposite  mine)  going  to  Montevideo  to  sing.  The 
person  speaking  so  loud  at  that  moment  on  our  side 
of  the  table  was  a  kind  of  original,  a  Piedmontese 
mill-owner  who,  having  "Town  rich  in  the  Argentine, 

O   O  O 

was  returning  thither  for  good,  after  a  short  stay  in 
his  own  country,  where,  as  it  would  appear,  he  had 
not  had  the  triumphal  reception  that  he  expected. 
In  fact,  as  early  as  last  evening  he  had  been  heard  to 
tell  the  story  to  a  steward,  and  boast  that  Italy  was 
not  going  to  hold  Jit's  bones.  Here  my  informant 
stopped  and  said  in  a  low  voice,  "Look  at  that  arm." 
It  was  the  pale  young  lady  with  the  cross  around 
her  neck  whom  I  had  already  noticed.  I  looked  and 
almost  shuddered.  It  seemed  not  an  arm  but  a  pool- 
white  bone  fresh  from  the  sepulchre.  Then  I  re- 
marked her  eyes  so  dull  and  filmy,  and  with  the  ex- 
pression that  seems  to  gaze  at  everything  and  see 
nothing.  I  remarked,  too,  that  the  Garibaldian 
regarded  her  with  lids  half-closed  as  if  to  veil  the 

O 


0ulf  of  %pons.  25 

feeling  of  compassion  which  she  inspired  even  in 
him. 

The  company,  in  short,  presented  to  an  observer 
a  variety  that  was  highly  satisfactory.  Amongst 
others  I  noted  the  strange  bronzed  face  of  a  man  of 
thirty-five ;  a  grave  and  somewhat  melancholy  counte- 
nance. I  could  not  take  my  eyes  off  him  for  a  while 
after  the  advocate  had  told  me  he  was  a  Peruvian, 
for  the  oblong  head,  the  large  mouth,  and  the  thin 
beard  answered  well  to  the  descriptions  we  read  in 
history  of  those  mysterious  Incas  that  had  always 
tormented  my  imagination.  I  seemed  to  behold  him 
clothed  in  red  woollen,  with  a  fillet  around  his  head, 
and  golden  earrino-s  in  his  ears,  marking;  his  thoughts 

o  o  '  O  O 

with  the  many-colored  strands  of  a  knotted  cord ; 
and  I  could  almost  see  the  gigantic  golden  statues  of 
the  imperial  palace  gleaming  behind  him,  and  gar- 
dens around  him  glittering  with  fruits  and  flowers 
of  gold.  But  it  was  only  the  proprietor  of  a  match 
factory  at  Lima,  talking  composedly  of  his  business 
with  his  opposite  neighbor. 

When  the  fruit  came  on  the  conversation  became 
somewhat  more  general  and  animated.  I  could  hear 

O 

the  captain  recounting  an  adventure  which  happened 
to  him  when  he  commanded  a  sailing  ship,  the  up- 
shot of  which  seemed,  from  his  gestures,  to  have 
been  a  monumental  serving  out, — on  his  part,  in  some 
port  or  other,  to  some  ragamuffin  or  other  who  had 
failed  in  due  respect, — of  kicks  and  cuffs.  At  the  foot 


26  <sm  Blue  Mater. 

of  the  table  the  Argentines  often  provoked  loud 
laughter  by  poking  fun,  as  it  appeared,  at  a  French 
travelling  salesman,  the  usual  barman  to  be  found  in 

O  O 

all  steamers,  and  who  answered  with  the  impertur- 
bable coolness  of  an  old  hand,  lavishing  in  reply 
witticisms  out  of  the  well-known  repertory  which  all 
of  his  profession  have  at  their  tongues'  end.  While 
coffee  was  being  served,  the  ship  gave  two  or  three 
rolls  rather  deeper  than  usual,  and  then,  gazed  at  by 
all,  there  rose  from  the  table  a  beautiful  Argentine 
lady ;  but  as  she  walked  off  staggering  and  sup- 
ported by  her  husband,  I  could  not  verify — so  to 
speak — that  "  wonderful  grace  of  motion  "  which 
writers  of  books  of  travel  ascribe  to  ladies  of  her 
country.  But  it  was  plain  enough  from  the  admir- 
ing curiosity  of  the  company  that  she  was  already 
acknowledged  as  aesthetic  lady-superior  among  the 
fair  sex  of  the  Galileo,  and  that  it  would  be  exceed- 
ingly difficult  to  dethrone  her  while  the  voyage 
lasted.  Soon  after  this  all  arose  from  the  table, 
looked  one  another  over  from  head  to  foot  as  on 
sitting  down,  and  then  dispersed  to  the  poop-deck, 
to  the  smoking-room,  to  their  staterooms ;  already 
showing  in  their  faces  how  bored  they  were  at  the 
prospect  of  the  endless  six  hours  which  lay  between 
them  and  dinner. 

But  I  did  not  find  it  dull  at  all.  One  idea  filled 
my  mind,  a  reflection  new  and  most  delightful,  un- 
known in  any  other  condition  than  on  board  a  ship 


"  perfect  freet>om  from  cave." 


28  ©n  Blue  Mater. 

at  sea, — the  feeling  of  perfect  freedom  from  care.  I 
could  say,  in  fact :  Now  for  twenty  days  I  am  separ- 
ated from  the  habitations  of  men,  I  can  see  none  of 
my  kind  save  those  I  have  about  me,  these  are  for 
me  the  whole  human  race.  For  twenty  days  I  am 
freed  from  every  social  tie,  from  every  social  duty ;  no 
trouble  can  assail  me  from  the  outer  world,  for  no 
news  can  reach  me  from  anywhere.  A  thousand 
misfortunes  may  threaten  me,  none  can  reach  me. 
Europe  may  be  convulsed,  I  shall  not  know  it. 
Twenty  days  of  limitless  horizon,  of  undisturbed 
meditation,  of  peace  without  fear,  of  idleness  with- 
out sting  of  conscience.  A  long  stretch  without 
fatigue  across  a  boundless  desert ;  a  sublime  pros- 
pect all  around  me,  and  an  air  most  pure ;  strangers 
for  my  associates,  and  an  unknown  country  for  my 
goal.  Prisoner  in  an  island  if  you  will,  but  an 
island  that  bears  me  where  I  wish  to  go,  which  glides 
along  under  my  feet;  and,  like  a  palpitating  slice  of 
my  native  land,  sends  its  own  thrill  into  my  sympa- 
thizing blood. 


CHAPTER    III 


ITALY    ON     BOARD    SHIP 


HAD,  moreover,  as  a  remedy  for 
duluess,  a  letter  of  introduction  to 
the  commissary  from  a  friend  in 
Genoa,  praying  that  official  to  put 
me  in  the  way  of  making  such 

^    observations  on  board  the  Galileo 

as  should  suit  my  purpose.  Before  we  reached  Gib- 
raltar I  waited  on  him.  His  quarters  were  on  deck 
near  the  captain's  office,  in  one  of  the  long  gangways 
running  fore  and  aft,  called  by  the  officers  of  the 
ship  Corso  Roma  because  there  was  such  a  constant 
passing  of  people  there.  I  found  him  in  a  nice  white 
stateroom,  adorned  with  photographs  and  full  of  handy 
little  trifles  which  gave  it  a  homelike  air,  altogether 
different  from  the  boarding-house  look  of  our  sparsely 
furnished  domiciles.  He  was  a  handsome  young  Geno- 
ese of  fair  complexion,  who  wore  with  ease  the  simple 
uniform  of  the  vessel ;  and  his  grave  regular  features 
bespoke  a  power  of  acute  observation  and  a  fine 

29 


30  ®n  Blue  Mater. 

sense  of  humor.  He  took  me  at  once  to  his  office 
on  the  other  side  of  the  Corso.  Besides  having 
charge  of  the  mails,  he  was  a  kind  of  justice  of  the 
peace  on  board  the  ship ;  his  duty  being  to  keep 
order  and  settle  all  disputes  which  might  arise  among 
the  third-class  people. 

There  needed  but  few  words  to  show  me  that  I 
was  to  have  on  the  voyage  a  new  and  far  more  ex- 
tended field  of  observation  than  I  could  have  sup- 
posed possible.  It  seems  that,  owing  to  the  crowded 
condition  in  which  this  multitude  of  emigrants  is 
forced  to  live,  the  diversity  of  their  manners  and  cus- 
toms and  the  agitation  of  mind  so  natural  under  the 
circumstances,  there  arises  in  a  day  or  two  such  a 
complication  of  psychological  facts  and  questions  as 
would  not  occur  on  land  in  a  whole  year  among  a 
number  four  times  as  great.  I  was  not,  however,  to 
hope  in  the  first  few  days  for  any  proper  conception 
of  it  all.  I  must  wait,  he  said,  until  things  were  a 
little  settled  and  arranged,  until  attachments  and 
sympathies  had  been  formed,  until  jealousies  and 
quarrels  had  arisen.  I  must  allow  time  for  original 
minds  to  acquire  their  little  celebrity,  and  the  lead- 
ing spirits  to  get  their  followers  around  them ;  the 
"  belles "  must  have  the  chance  to  become  known, 
the  gossips  of  both  sexes  the  opportunity  to  observe 
and  exchange  ideas,  and  then  I  should  see  that  life 
on  board  would  take  the  character  and  movement  of 
a  huge  village  where  all  the  inhabitants,  idle  from 


fltalp  on  Boaro  Sbip.  31 

necessity,  were  passing  the  day  in  the  street  and  eat- 
ing all  together  in  the  open  square.  "  Imagine  if  you 
please,"  he  continued,  "  what  sort  of  a  daily  chronicle 
all  this  can  yield."  And  as  he  said  this  the  com- 
missary shook  his  head  with  a  slight  smile  which 
gave  token  at  once  of  the  queer  scenes  at 


which  it  was  his  duty  to  be  present  and  the  treas- 
ures of  patience  he  would  be  forced  to  draw  upon. 


32  <§m  Blue  Mater, 

On  the  table  was  a  perfect  mountain  of  passports, 
an  abstract  of  which  he  showed  me.  The  Galileo 
was  carrying  sixteen  hundred  third-class  passengers, 
four  hundred  of  whom  were  women  and  children. 
This,  of  course,  did  not  include  the  ship's  company, 
which  must  have  numbered  nearly  two  hundred  per- 
sons. Every  place  was  occupied.  The  greater  part 
of  the  emigrants,  as  is  generally  the  case,  came  from 
northern  Italy,  and  eight  out  of  ten  were  from  the 
country.  Many  Valusines,  Friulans,  and  farmers 
from  lower  Lombardy  and  upper  Valtellina  ;  peasants 
from  Alba  and  Alessandria  who  were  going  to  the 
Argentine  for  the  harvest ;  only  expecting  to  put  by 
three  hundred  lire  in  three  months,  the  journey  being 
forty  days.  Many  came  from  Val  di  Sesia,  many  al- 
so from  those  lovely  regions  which  crown  our  lakes,— 
so  lovely  that  it  seems  strange  how  anyone  could 
think  of  leaving  them — weavers  from  Como,  fami- 

O 

lies  from  Intra,  reapers  from  around  Verona.  From 
Liguria  the  usual  contingent,  principally  from  the 
districts  of  Albenga,  of  Sanova  and  of  Chiarivari; 
divided  into  gangs  by  an  agent  who  accompanied 
them  and  to  whom  they  were  bound  to  hand  over  a 
certain  sum  in  America  within  a  given  time.  Among 
these  were  several  of  those  sinewy  women  who  work 
in  the  Cogorno  slate-quarries,  and  who  can  vie  in 
muscular  force  with  the  strongest  man.  Of  Tuscans 

O 

but  few.  A  handful  of  alabaster  workers  from 
Volterra,  plaster-figure  makers  from  Lucca,  and  far- 


fltalp  on  ilBoaro  Sbip.  33 

mers  from  around  Firenzuola,  some  of  whom,  as  often 
happens,  may  have  laid  aside  the  mattock  to  become 
wandering  musicians.  There  were  harpers  and  fid- 
dlers from  the  Basilicata  and  the  Abruzzo,  and  some 
of  those  famous  braziers,  the  ringing  of  whose  anvil 
is  going  to  be  heard  in  every  quarter  of  the  globe. 
Those  from  the  southern  provinces  were  principally 
shepherds  and  goatherds  from  the  Adriatic  coast, 
especially  from  the  neighborhood  of  Barletta;  and 
many  herdsmen  (cafoni)  from  that  of  Catanzaro  and 
Cosenza.  Then  there  were  Neapolitan  pedlers,  specu- 
lators in  straw  work  who,  to  get  rid  of  the  import 
duties,  took  their  raw  material  to  America  and  man- 
ufactured it  there ;  shoemakers  and  tailors  from 
Garfagnaua,  pick  and  shovel  men  (sterratori)  from 
the  Biellese,  field  laborers  from  the  island  of  Ustica. 
In  short,  hunger  and  courage  from  every  province  and 
of  every  profession  ;  not  to  speak  of  many  starving 
creatures  without  profession,  aiming  at  they  knew  not 
what,  going  to  seek  their  fortunes  with  blinded  eyes 
and  folded  hands,  the  feeblest  and  most  unlucky  of 
all  emigrants.  Of  the  women,  the  greater  number 
had  their  families  with  them  ;  but  there  were  not  a 
few  quite  alone  or  accompanied  by  a  friend  of  their 
own  sex.  Among  these  several  Ligurians  who  were 
in  search  of  places  as  cooks  or  waiting  maids  ;  some 
were  looking  for  husbands,  allured  by  the  hope  that 
they  would  not  find  so  much  competition  in  the  new 
world  ;  and  there  were  those  who  were  going  out  with 


34  ©n  Blue  Mater. 

views  somewhat  more  extended  and  more  easily  real- 
ized. Amongst  all  those  Italians  there  were  some 

o 

Swiss,  some  Austrians,  and  a  few  French  Proveucales. 
Almost  all  of  them  were  bound  for  the  Argentine,  a 
small  number  for  Uraguay,  a  very  few  for  the  repub- 
lics of  the  Pacific  coast.  Some  did  not  even  know 
where  they  were  going — to  the  American  continent 
generally — when  they  got  there  they  would  look 
about  them.  There  was  a  monk  who  was  going  to 

o        o 

Tierra  del  Fuego. 

The  company,  in  short,  was  of  the  most  varied  de- 
scription, and  promised  well.  Not  only  a  large  vil- 
lage, as  the  commissary  remarked,  but  a  little  state. 
In  the  third  class  was  the  people,  in  the  second  the 
burghers,  and  in  the  first  the  aristocracy.  Captain 
and  officers  stood  for  the  government,  the  commis- 
sary was  the  magistracy,  and  the  press  was  repre- 
sented by  the  register  of  complaints  and  remarks 
which  was  kept  open  in  the  dining-saloon ;  besides 
which  the  passengers  themselves,  to  kill  time,  often 
set  up  a  daily  journal.  "  You  '11  hear  and  see  all 
sorts  of  things,"  said  rny  friend  the  commissary,  "  and 
the  comedy  will  grow  more  and  more  interesting 
until  the  very  last."  He  prepared  me  meanwhile 
for  the  play  by  showing  me  some  very  curious  docu- 
ments, records  of  peasant  ingenuity ;  letters  of  recom- 
mendation handed  by  emigrants  to  the  captain  and 
to  himself,  and  written  by  persons  wholly  unknown 
to  those  whom  they  addressed :  "  Signer  Comandante 


fltalp  on  Boart)  Sbfp.  35 

of  the  ship,  I  ask  your  good  offices  in  favor  of  so  and 
so,  a  countryman  of  mine,  admirable  farmer,  excellent 
parent,  and  my  very  good  friend,  etc.,  etc."  There 
were  those  who  had  such  letters  as  these  signed  by 
Tom,  and  Dick,  and  Harry  (Tiziignoti),and  addressed 
to  the  authorities  of  Montevideo  and  Buenos  Ayres. 
Fine,  handsome,  smiling  women,  too,  had  presented 
credentials,  evidently  apocryphal,  from  a  father  or 
an  uncle,  as  an  indirect  way  of  asking  favor,  and 
making  it  quite  clear  that  they  would  not  be  wanting 
in  gratitude.  "  I  cordially  desire,"  one  would  say, 
uto  introduce  my  sister,  who  being  young  and  alone 
among  so  many  strangers,  might  be  exposed  to,  etc., 
etc."  And  on  the  very  first  day  he  had  found  on 
his  table  a  note  scrawled  in  pencil,  without  signa- 
ture, a  blind  declaration  of  attachment,  with  a  vague 
hope  that  lie  would  from  sympathy  recognize  her 
among  all  those  people, — but  he  must  not  say  a  word 
for  pity's  sake,  must  keep  the  secret  and  pardon  the 
indiscretion.  "  Amore,  alma  del mondo  —  '  "'T  is  love 
that  makes  the  world  go  round."  And  it  was  the 
great  business  of  these  ocean  voyages.  Whether  it 
was,  said  the  commissary,  the  result  of  idleness 
which  left  too  free  thoughts  already  excited  by  the 
emotions  of  the  few  days  previous,  or  whether  it  was 
a  special  psychological  effect  of  the  sea  air  joined  to 
an  inclination  to  tenderness  engendered  of  solitude, 
it  was,  at  all  events,  a  fact  that  the  "  populace  "  of 
the  steamer  gave  him  more  trouble  on  that  one  ac- 


36  <§>n  Blue  Mater. 

count  than  on  any  other;  and  it  would,  beyond 
doubt  stand  as  the  dominant  chord  in  the  great 
symphony  he  was  to  be  bearing  for  the  next  three 
weeks.  "  O,  if  I  could  only  write  a  book  !  "  he  con- 
cluded, smiling. 

And  yet  for  the  first  few  days  the  ark  attracted 
me  more  than  the  animals.  And  I  believe  it  is  al- 
ways so  with  those  who  travel  for  the  first  time  in 
those  colossal  boats  that  cany  blood  to  the  New 
World  and  brino^  back  treasure  to  the  old.  At  first 

O 

the  brain  is  confused  in  that  labyrinth  of  passages, 
of  corners,  and  of  nooks  ;  by  that  jostle  of  sailors 
and  of  officers  in  coats  of  various  pattern,  going  into 
and  coming  out  of  all  kinds  of  furtive  doors,  like 
those  of  a  prison  or  a  public  office.  How  can  so 
much  intricate  structure  be  necessary  to  move  and 
steer  the  huge  vessel  !  But  when  one  begins  to  un- 
derstand a  little,  it  is  impossible  not  to  admire  the 
perfection  which  human  wit  has  reached  in  planning, 
fitting,  and  settling  into  one  another  all  those  little 
holes  of  offices,  of  storerooms,  of  sleeping-places,  of 
workshops  of  every  kind,  in  each  of  which  one  sees 
as  he  passes  by  some  person  who  is  writing,  or  sew- 
ing, or  kneading,  or  cooking,  or  washing,  or  hammer- 
ing, crouched  down,  as  it  would  seem,  with  hardly 
space  to  move,  like  a  cricket  in  a  hole,  and  yet  ap- 
pearing quite  at  ease,  as  if  he  had  been  born  and 
had  always  lived  inside  there,  floating  between 
heaven  and  earth.  The  enormous  machine  that 


on  Boaro  Sbip.  37 

moves  all  this  is  the  nucleus ;  and  the  bow  and 
stern  are  like  the  suburbs  of  a  kind  of  stronghold 
called  the  midships,  consisting  of  the  second-class 
staterooms,  the  rooms  of  the  officers,  the  engineers, 
the  doctor,  and  the  cooks  ;  of  the  bakers'  and  pastry 
cooks'  rooms,  the  kitchen  and  the  baths,  the  galley, 
the  pantry,  the  linen-room,  the  flag-room,  and  the 
post-office.  And  this  central  city,  traversed  by  two 
long  side  gangways,  all  noise  and  bustle,  and  full  of 
the  smell  of  coal,  of  oil,  of  tar,  and  of  frying,  is  cov- 
ered by  a  huge  terrace,  like  a  hanging  square,  to 
which  the  enormous  trunk  of  the  mainmast  and  the 
two  mighty  smokestacks  rising  from  among  the  boat 
davits  and  the  ventilators,  and  at  the  far  end  the 
officers'  bridge  like  an  airy  balcony,  give  a  strange 
monumental  aspect,  which  enchains  the  fancy  as  if 
it  were  some  mysterious  city.  This  deck,  occupied 
principally  by  the  third-class  passengers,  commands 
the  whole  fore  part  of  the  vessel,  a  bit  of  Noah's 
Ark,  a  huge  place  crowded  with  passengers,  having 
alono;  its  sides  the  stalls  for  the  horses  and  cattle, 

O  / 

the  coops  for  pigeons  and  fowls,  and  the  pens  for 
the  sheep  and  the  rabbits.  At  the  far  end  the  steam 
washroom  and  the  slaughter-house  ;  this  way  again 
the  fresh-water  tanks  and  the  deck-pumps,  the  sky- 
light of  the  canteen,  and  the  hatchway  of  the  women's 
cabin,  covered  by  a  strange-looking  roof  of  thick 
glass,  which  serves  the  women  for  a  seat.  Above 
all  the  foremast,  with  its  black  shrouds  and  rigging 


Blue  Mater. 


cut  clear  against  the  sky.  Beyond  all  the  forecastle, 
covering  the  sailors'  quarters,  the  icehouse,  and  the 
sick  bay,  and  forming  another  platform  running  to  a 
point  where  plenty  more  people  are  crowded  in 

among   the    huge 
blocks  and  the  cap- 
stan and  the  anchor 
chains ;    and    more 
hatchways,  and 
more   ventila- 
tors, until  it  is 
like  an  outwork 
of  the  main  fort, 
from  which  the 
poop-deck    at 
the    other   end 
of    the    ship, 
covered    with 
its  awning  and 
peopled    with 
ladies    and    gentlemen, 
looks    small,    confused, 
far  off,  and   not  at  all 
as  if  it  belonged  to  the 

O 

same  structure.  Yet  all 
this  is  only  the  outside 
of  the  mighty  vessel. 

You  are  to  imagine  another  world  underneath,  un- 
known to  the  passengers;  endless  bunkers  full  of 


on  BoarS  Sbip. 


39 


coal,  enormous  tanks  of  fresh  water,  provisions  of 
every  kind,  as  if  for  a  besieged  city;  enormous 
stores  of  rope,  of  sails,  of 
blocks,  of  fire  hose ;  an 
interminable  labyrinth 
of  half-lighted  caves 
crammed  full  of  baggage ;  , 
passages  where  one  must  1 
stoop ;  ladders  that  go 
down  into  the  dark,  black, 
damp  recesses  which  no  sound 
from  the  humming  crowd  above 
can  reach,  where  one  would  seem 
buried  in  the  granite  vaults  of  a 
fortress  did  not  the  trembling  of 
the  walls  inform  him  that  all 
around  is  thrilling  with  tremen- 
dous life,  and  that  the  frail  struc- 
ture is  in  motion. 

And  so  examining  the  Galileo 

O 

piece  by  piece,  and  turning  over 

passports  with  the  commissary, 

I   passed   the   first   three   days. 

We   had    noble    weather  in    the 

Gulf  of  Lyons;  but,  reaching  the 

Straits  of  Gibraltar  on  the  fourth 

day,  we  found  a  thick  fog  that  wholly  concealed 

the  Rock,  the  coast  of  Africa,  and  the  shores  of 

Spain,  and  made  the  passage  very  difficult.     Not 


40  ©n  Blue  Mater. 

for  the  reason  that  disturbed  the  quiet  of  many 
women  in  the  third  class  who  supposed,  the  com- 
missary told  me,  that  the  ship  had  to  thread  her 
way  through  a  narrow  passage  between  the  rocks, 
where  she  would  scrape  on  both  sides  and  run  the 
risk  of  being  knocked  to  pieces  like  the  boats  that 
go  into  the  Blue  Grotto  of  Capri,  but  that  because 
of  the  fog  and  the  crowd  of  ships  that  meet  there  in 
that  ocean  vestibule,  where  two  continents  almost 
touch  each  other,  there  might  easily  occur  a  collision 
that  would  send  us  all  to  the  bottom  and  no  time  to 
make  our  act  of  contrition.1  We  had,  therefore,  to 
proceed  with  the  greatest  caution.  And  then  a  won- 
derful sight  was  seen,  at  once  comical  and  solemn, 
well  worth  being  made  a  picture  of,  and  called  in 
Genoese  A  fnjfetta, — "  Fear  and  Trembling."  The 
Galileo  was  moving  on  very  slowly  indeed  in  the 
midst  of  a  dense  fog  which  shut  in  the  view  a  short 
distance  from  the  ship ;  the  officers  were  all  on  the 
alert ;  the  captain  on  the  bridge  was  sending  down 
order  after  order  to  steer  to  starboard  or  to  port, 
while  the  whistle  sent  out  at  every  moment  its  note 
of  alarm, — a  kind  of  hoarse  wail  like  the  presage  of 
woe.  To  the  right,  to  the  left,  in  front,  behind, 
were  heard  hoarse  ill-boding  answers  from  invisible 
steamers,  some  far  off,  like  roars  from  the  lions  of 
Africa,  some  quite  near,  as  of  steamers  on  the  point 

1  "  Letter  or  line  know  I  never  a  one 

Save  my  neck  verse  at  Hairibee." — Translator. 


1Ttal£  on  JBoaro  Sbip.  41 

of  running  us  down ;  others  weak  and  at  intervals  ; 
others  asrain  coming  thick  and  fast  as  if  to  threaten 

O  o 

and  entreat  at  once.  At  every  sound  those  sixteen 
hundred  passengers,  on  their  feet  and  crowded  to- 
gether on  the  deck,  turned, 
everyone,  towards  the  quar- 
ter whence  it  came,  with 
wide  eyes  and  suspended 
breath ;  and  some  would 
hurry  that  way  with  fright- 
ened faces  as  if  expecting  to 
see  the  huge  bow  of  the  ship 
that  was  to  run  us  down. 
Not  a  voice  was  heard,  not  a 
smile  was  seen  in  all  that 
multitude.  As  if  by  instinct, 
families  drew  together,  some 
crowded  around  the  boats,  ^^ 

others  eyed  askance  the  life- 
preservers  that  were  hanging  here  and  there,  and 
all  sent  glances  in  turn  from  the  captain,  their 
guardian  angel,  to  the  fog  ahead,  where  death  might 
be  lying  in  wait  for  them.  One  man  only  on  the 
poop-deck  seemed  to  be  indifferent.  It  was  my  neigh- 
bor at  table,  the  advocate.  Seated  with  his  back  to 
the  water,  he  appeared  to  be  reading,  and  I  was  half- 
inclined  to  admire  his  coolness ;  but  I  was  quickly 
undeceived,  for  the  book  trembled  in  his  grasp  as  did 
never  glass  of  liquor  in  the  hand  of  a  hopeless  drunk- 


42  <sm  Blue  Mater. 

ai'd.  This  lugubrious  concert  of  signals  lasted  more 
than  an  hour,  amidst  a  deathlike  silence  on  board  the 
ship,  and  the  slow,  slow  progress  of  the  steamer,  as  if 
she  were  stealing  through  a  hostile  fleet, — an  hour 
that  seemed  to  last  forever.  At  last  only  far  distant 
sounds  were  heard  from  time  to  time,  and  the  cap- 
tain came  down  from  the  bridge,  wiping  his  forehead 
with  his  handkerchief,  the  signal  of  our  deliverance. 
We  were  passing  Cape  Spartel,  and  the  Galileo 
moved  out  upon  the  broad  Atlantic  accompanied  by 
a  school  of  porpoises,  which  was  greeted  by  the  emi- 
grants with  a  hurricane  of  yells  and  whistles. 

The  fog  lifted  almost  at  once.  On  the  left  ap- 
peared the  coast  of  Africa,  a  chain  of  far-off  moun- 
tains as  clear  as  crystal,  and  the  Atlantic  rocked  us 
on  its  long,  smooth  billows,  blue  and  fringed  with 
silver  like  carpets  shaken  by  myriads  of  hands  un- 
seen, one  after  the  other,  far  as  the  eye  could  reach ; 
and  the  Galileo  seemed  to  draw  over  them,  as  she 
foamed  onward,  a  long,  endless  train  of  whitest  lace. 
The  new  sea  was  in  no  wise  different  from  the  one 
we  had  left,  and  yet  everyone  seemed  to  toss  his 
head  as  if  the  spirit  were  more  free  and  the  eye  had 
greater  range.  We  breathed  the  air  with  deeper  in- 
spiration, and  with  a  new  sense  of  pleasure,  as  if 
it  brought  to  us  already  the  spicy  breath  of  the 
great  South  American  forests  to  which  our  thoughts 
were  flying  across  those  six  thousand  miles.  The 
sky  was  deepest  blue,  the  dim  and  horned  moon 


fltal£  on  3Boaro  Sbip. 


43 


hung  low  above  the  horizon,  almost  lost  in  the  tender 
azure  of  the  sky.  It  seemed  as  if  that  ocean  to  which 
we  had  all  been  looking  forward  with  such  anxiety 
were  saying  to  us,  "  Come  on  !  I  am  mighty,  but  I 
fight  fair ! " 


'1  am  migbtg, but  1  figbt  fair!" 


CHAPTER  IV 


WO  days  later  everything  could 
be  regarded  as  in  order  in  the 
forward  part  of  the  ship,  and  I 
began  my  observations.  When  I 
went  on  the  bridge,  a  little  after 
eight  in  the  moraine1,  the  hour 


morning, 


for  breakfast,  the  fore-deck  looked  like  a  country  fair 
or  a  gypsy  encampment  with  the  tents  down.  Each 
party  of  emigrants  had  taken  its  place  and  passed 
the  greater  part  of  the  day  there.  These  places 
were,  according  to  traditional  custom,  respected  by 
everybody.  Wherever  one  could  sit  without  block- 
ing the  passage,  in  all  the  nooks  and  corners  made 
by  coils  of  rope  or  bales  of  hay  or  merchandise  piled 
against  the  side  of  the  ship,  there  nestled,  like  so 
many  kittens,  a  little  knot  of  kinsfolk  or  acquaint- 
ances with  their  stools  and  their  cushions  and  their 
rugs.  Some  had  crawled  so  completely  out  of  sight 
that  one  might  pass  the  place  ten  times  and  not  know 

44 


Iforwarfc  an&  Hft. 


45 


they  were  there ;  for  these  poor  creatures  fit  into 
every  hollow  like  water.  Some  of  the  emigrants 
were  still  dipping  their  biscuit  in  their  black  coffee, 
the  tin  pot  on  their  knees;  some  were  washing  their 
crockery  at  the  deck  tubs,  or  were  serving  out  the 
fresh  water  to  their  ranchos  in  so-called  bidons,  shaped 
like  truncated  cones  and  painted  red  or  green.  Others, 
again,  were  crouched  up  against  the  bulwarks  in  the 


tbe  cbtlcren." 


posture  of  peasants  well  accustomed  to  lie  upon  the 
ground ;  or  were  pacing  up  and  down  with   their 


46  <§>n  Blue  Mater, 

hands  in  their  pockets,  as  if  on  the  open  square  of 
their  native  villages.  The  women,  meanwhile,  with 
their  hair  hanging  about  their  shoulders,  were  mak- 
ing their  toilettes  before  twenty-centime  looking- 
glasses,  or  dressing  the  children ;  passing  soap,  towels, 
brushes,  from  one  to  the  other,  or  mending  clothes, 
or  washing  handkerchiefs  in  a  spoonful  or  two  of 
water ;  all  busy,  but  plainly  hampered  by  their  nar- 
row limits  and  the  lack  of  a  hundred  things  they 
needed.  Through  the  dense  throng  there  moved  the 

O  O 

long  blue  bonnets  of  the  herdsmen  (ca/oni),  the  green 
corsets  of  the  Calabrese  women,  the  wide  felt  hats  of 
the  north  Italian  peasant.  There  were  seen  the  caps 
of  peasant  women  from  the  mountains,  red  bonnets 
from  the  Papal  States  (italianelli},  coronets  of  pins 
worn  by  the  countrywomen  of  Brianza ;  white  heads 
of  old  men  ;  wild  black  shocks  of  hair,  and  an  amaz- 
ing variety  of  faces,  wearied  and  sad  or  laughing  or 
astonished  ;  while  many  a  dark  and  sinister  look 
£ave  reason  to  believe  that  this  emigration  carried 

O  *--3 

out  of  the  country  the  fruitful  germs  of  many  a 
crime. 

But  the  sea  being  smooth,  the  air  pure  and  fresh, 
the  greater  part  were  in  good  spirits.  And  it  was 
to  be  remarked  that  the  excitement  of  departure,  in 
which  all  thoughts  had  been  absorbed,  once  over, 
immortal  womanhood  had  resumed  its  undying  sway 
even  here.  And  that  the  more  because,  being  scarce, 
it  commanded  here,  as  in  America,  a  higher  price. 


fforwarfc  anfc  Bft.  47 

Very  few  of  the  men  were  looking  out  over  the  sea. 
The  greater  number  were  scrutinizing  the  women 
passengers.  The  young  fellows  astride  of  the  bul- 
wark, and  one  leg  hanging  outboard,  their  hats  on 
the  backs  of  their  heads,  took  on  like  bold  mariners, 
talking  loud  and  laughing  so  as  to  attract  attention  ; 
nearly  all  of  them  looking  at  the  hatchway  of  the 
women's  cabin  where  were  assembled,  as  on  a  kind  of 
stage,  many  young  women  with  nicely-  dressed  hair, 
with  ribbons  and  white  dresses  and  bright-colored 
kerchiefs  neatly  put  on ;  the  enterprising  portion,  it 
would  seem,  of  the  ladies  of  the  third  class.  Among 
these  was  conspicuous  a  rather  pretty  young  woman, 
a  peasant  of  Capracotta,  with  sweet,  regular  features, 
a  countenance  like  a  Madonna  (ill-washed)  charm- 
ingly set  oft*  by  a  neck  scarf  which  she  wore  crossed 
on  her  bosom,  all  roses  and  pinks  which  looked 
flamingly  real  to  the  eye.  And  I  marked  two  girls, 
one  a  brunette,  the  other  with  red  hair,  two  bold 
pretty  faces,  dressed  with  a  certain  town-bred  co- 
quetry. They  talked  with  great  animation,  giving 
from  time  to  time  a  shrill  laugh,  and  looking  hard  at 
one  or  at  another,  evidently  discussing  their  fellow- 
passengers  and  reviewing  the  figures  of  fun  among 
the  "  emigration  people."  The  commissary,  who 
came  by  as  I  was  studying  them,  said  they  were 
Lombards,  travelling  alone,  and  calling  themselves 
singers.  They  were  two  little  devils,  he  said,  and 
were  likely  to  give  him  a  great  deal  of  trouble  on 


48  ©n  Blue  ZKHater. 

the  voyage.  And  as  I  did  not  know  just  what  kind 
of  trouble  was  meant,  he  proceeded  to  set  forth  that 
one  of  the  greatest  plagues  of  life  on  board  ship 
among  all  those  emigrants  was  the  jealousy  of  the 
married  women.  A  terrible  business!  The  honest 
women  with  infants  in  their  arms  were  fit  to  kill 
these  impudent  adventurers  who,  taking  advantage 
of  all  that  confusion,  were  trying  to  bewitch  their  idle 
husbands;  and  so  furious  quarrels  arose  in  which  he 
had  to  do  the  moderator.  "Ah!  you  '11  hear  more 
later  on  ! "  There  were  about  a  dozen  of  them  this 
time  as  if  they  had  got  together  on  purpose  to  plague 
him.  And  then  he  showed  me  another  girl,  a 
Bolognese,  a  heavy-artillery  kind  of  woman  (donna 
cannone)  sitting  behind  the  other  two  with  her  head 

/  O 

high,  dressed  in  black,  a  face  like  a  lioness,  dark,  not 
ugly,  but, — Lord  save  us !  She  had  a  haughty  co- 
quetry of  her  own,  the  whim  it  would  seem  of  stand- 
ing pre-eminent,  and  of  being  longed  for  on  account 
of  an  ostentation  of  high-bred  contempt  for  every- 
body be  they  who  they  might, — of  an  excessive 
delicacy  which  would  be  soiled  by  a  breath.  And 
she  threatened  everybody,  boasting  of  a  relative  in 
Montevideo  who  was  in  journalism,  and  who  struck 
terror  into  the  government.  On  the  first  evening 
she  had  come  to  the  commissary  to  demand  justice 
because  a  peasant  passing  near  had  disturbed  a 
leathern  pouch  which  she  wore  over  her  shoulder. 
And  on  being  asked  once  why  she  was  going  to 


3f  or  wart)  anfc  Eft.  49 

America,  she  had  answered  loftily,  "To  get  a  little 
air ! " 

So  here  was  one  who  was  pretending  to  be  out  of 
her  sphere  ;  but  there  were  those  who  were  really  so, 
and  the  commissary  looking  about  him  for  n  moment 
pointed  out  to  me  some  families  and  some  individuals 
in  corners  as  it  were  and  keeping  as  far  as  might  be 
apart  from  the  crowd.  These,  to  judge  from  their 
air  and  their  clothes,  ragged  but  of  superior  make 
and  material,  had  evidently  been  forced  to  embark 
for  America  through  some  sudden  reverse  of  fortune 
which  had  brought  them  down  from  competency  to 
the  streets,  without  even  money  enough  to  take  a 
second-class  ticket.  There  was,  among  others,  a 
married  couple  with  a  little  ten-year-old  girl,  who 
stood  apart  near  the  cattle-pen  with  the  uneasy  air 
of  people  who  do  not  venture  to  sit  down  ;  both  about 
forty  years  old,  feeble,  and  of  most  woe-begone  aspect. 
They  were  shopkeepers.  The  woman,  tall  and  thin, 
with  red  eyes,  had  seemingly  just  recovered  from  ill- 
ness, and  had  passed  the  whole  of  the  first  day  in 
the  cabin,  weeping  over  her  little  girl  and  not  eating 
a  morsel.  "  Yes,"  said  the  commissary,  "  there  is 
wretchedness  everywhere,  but  it  seems  worse  at  sea." 

Meanwhile,  looking  down  and  right  under  the 
bridge,  I  discovered  one  of  the  most  beautiful  faces 
I  had  ever  seen  by  land  or  sea,  in  the  flesh,  or  in 
painting,  or  in  sculpture,  from  the  first  day  that  I  be- 
gan to  go  about  the  world.  The  commissary  told 


50  ©n  Blue  Mater. 

me  she  was  a  Genoese.  She  was  seated  on  a  little 
stool  beside  an  elderly  man  who  seemed  to  be  her 
father ;  and  she  was  washing  the  face  of  a  little  fel- 
low before  her  who  was  no  doubt  her  brother.  She 
was  a  tall,  blonde  girl,  with  an  oval  face  of  the  most 
angelic  regularity  and  purity  of  outline,  eyes  large 
and  clear,  skin  most  fair  and  delicate ;  the  body  per- 
fect, except  that  the  hands  were  a  little  too  long. 
She  was  dressed  in  a  fluttering  white  jacket  and  a 
blue  skirt  which  clunsr  around  limbs  that  seemed  of 

O 

marble.  Her  dress,  though  perfectly  clean  showed 
that  she  was  poor ;  but  her  air  was  the  air  of  a  lady, 
mingled,  however,  with  a  simple  and  ingenuous  grace 
of  movement  which  accorded  well  enough  with  her 
lowly  station.  She  was  like  a  ten-years  child  that 
had  grown  to  that  stature  in  a  day  or  two.  Many  of 
the  passengers  were  standing  about  looking  at  her, 
and  others  turned  to  give  a  glance  as  they  passed. 
But  for  the  whole  time  that  we  were  regarding  her 
she  never  raised  her  eyes  or  gave  the  slightest  sign 
of  consciousness  that  she  was  being  admired  ;  and  her 
face  preserved  a  tranquillity,  I  might  almost  say  a 
transparency,  which  rendered  any  suspicion  that  all 
this  was  put  on  a  thing  out  of  the  question.  So  dif- 
ferent was  she  from  her  surroundings  that  she  ap- 
peared quite  alone  in  the  midst  of  a  solitude,  although 
people  were  pressing  upon  her  from  every  side. 
How  did  this  dainty  miracle  get  there  ?  And  there 
was  evidently  fame  of  her  all  over  the  ship,  for  the 


fforwarfc  anfc  aft.  s1 

next  thing  we  saw  was  the  cook  of  the  third  class 
looking  out  of  his  own  window  and  regarding  her 
with  the  air  of  an  habitual  admirer.  This  personage 
with  his  imposing  white  cap,  a  bluff  red  face,  and  an 
amazing  stateliness,  seemed  to  know  that  he  was  for 
the  emigrants  the  most  important  person  in  the  ship, 
—revered,  dreaded,  paid  court  to  like  an  emperor. 
"She  too,"  said  the  commissary,  shaking  his  head, 
"she  too  will,  without  intending  it,  give  me  no 
little  annoyance."  And  he  predicted  a  troublesome 
voyage. 

But  though  there  was  a  good  deal  to  make  one 
smile,  the  spectacle  on  the  whole  was  one  to  wring 
the  heart.  No  doubt,  in  that  large  number,  there 
were  many  who  could  have  got  along  honestly  in 
their  own  country,  and  who  emigrated  only  to  try 
and  rise  out  of  a  mediocrity  with  which  they  would 
have  done  well  to  be  content ;  and  many  others  who, 
leaving  behind  them  fraudulent  debt  and  ruined 
reputation,  were  going  to  America,  not  to  work,  but 
to  see  if  there  were  not  there  a  better  chance  than  in 
Italy  for  idleness  and  rascality.  But  the  greater 
part,  it  must  be  allowed,  were  forced  by  hunger  to 
emigrate,  after  having  struggled  vainly  and  for  many 
years  in  the  clutch  of  want.  There  were  those  jour- 
neymen laborers  from  around  Vercelli,  who,  having 
wife  and  children,  and  half-killing  themselves  with 

7  O 

work, — when  they  can  get  it  to  do, — hardly  earn 
five  hundred  lire  per  year;  and  there  were  peasants 


52  ©n  36lue  Mater. 

from  around  Mantua,  who,  in  the  cold  season,  pass 
over  the  Po  to  gather  black  bulbs  and  roots,  which 
they  boil  and  eat,  not  so  much  to  live  as  to  keep 
from  dying  before  the  winter  is  over;  and  there 
were  rice  gatherers  from  lower  Lombardy,  who,  in 
the  slimy  water  that  is  poisoning  them,  sweat  for 
hours  under  a  scorching  sun  and,  with  fever  in  their 

O  ' 

veins,  earn  a  lira  a  day  that  they  may  have  a  little 
polenta  and  mouldy  bread  and  rancid  pork  to  eat. 
Then  there  were  peasants  from  around  Pavia,  who 
mortgage  their  labor  to  get  clothes  and  implements, 
and,  not  able  to  work  enough  to  pay  the  debt,  renew 
the  obligation,  each  year  under  harder  conditions, 
bringing  themselves  at  last  to  starving  and  hopeless 
slavery,  from  which  there  is  no  escape  but  death  or 
flight.  And  there  were  Calubrese,  who  live  on  a 

O  / 

kind   of  bread   made  of  the  wild  vetch,  something 

'  O 

like  a  paste  of  sawdust  and  mud  ;  and  in  bad  years 
eat  the  grass  and  weeds  of  the  field,  and  devour  the 
raw  tops  of  the  wild  carrot,  like  cattle.  And  there 
were  those  plowmen  of  the  Basilicata,  who  walk  five 
or  six  miles  to  their  work  every  day,  carrying  their 
implements  on  their  shoulders,  who  sleep  with  the 
asses  and  the  hogs  on  the  bare  ground,  in  hideous 
hovels  without  any  chimney,  with  no  candle  but  a 
bit  of  resinous  wood  ;  and  who  never  taste  meat 
from  one  year's  end  to  another  unless  one  of  their 
animals  happens  to  die.  And  there  were  many  of 
those  unhappy  eaters  otpanrosszo  and  acgua-sale  from 


fforwarfc  anfc  Hft.  53 

Apulia,  who,  with  the  half  of  their  daily  bread  and 
one  hundred  and  fifty  lire  per  year,  have  to  maintain 
their  families  in  the  city  far  away  from  them,  while 
they  in  the  country,  where  they  are  killing  them- 
selves with  work,  sleep  on  bags  of  straw  in  niches 
dug  in  the  walls  of  a  cabin,  where  the  rain  drops 
down  and  the  wind  draws  through.  And,  finally, 
there  was  a  good  number  out  of  those  many  millions 
of  small  proprietors  who,  brought  down  by  a  system 
of  taxation  wliolly  unexampled  in  tlie  world  to  a  con- 
dition worse  than  that  of  their  laborers,  and  living 
in  huts  which  many  of  these  would  shun  with  horror, 
are  so  wretched  that  "  they  could  not  live  in  a  healthy 
way  even  if  compelled  to  by  the  law."  All  these 
were  emigrating  from  no  spirit  of  adventure.  To  be 
sure  of  this  one  had  but  to  mark  how  many  there 
were  in  the  thronsr  with  stout,  large-boned  bodies 

O  '  O 

from  which  privation  had  worn  the  flesh  ;  how  many 
whose  brave,  haggard  faces  declared  how  long  they 
had  fought  and  bled  before  quitting  the  field  of  hat- 
tie.  Useless  to  try  and  bid  down  the  compassion 
they  awaken  by  raising  the  old  cry  of  the  outsider 
that  the  tillers  of  the  Italian  soil  are  feeble  and 
slothful — an  accusation  long  ago  refuted  by  these 
very  foreigners,  who  proclaim  the  solemn  truth  that 
in  the  south,  as  in  the  north,  these  laborers  pour 
out  their  sweat  upon  the  land  to  the  extent  of  possibil- 
ity /  a  truth  proved,  moreover,  by  the  hundreds  of 
countries  that  call  for  their  labor  and  prefer  it. 


54  ©n  Blue  Mater. 

They  deserved  profound  and  sincere  compassion; 
and  the  more  when  one  remembered  how  many  of 
them,  no  doubt,  had  with  them  ruinous  contracts 
drawn  by  forestallers  of  the  market,  who  scent  de- 
spair in  their  huts,  and  who  buy  it  up ;  how  many 
of  them,  too  long  ill-fed  and  broken  with  toil,  bore 
in  their  bodies  the  seeds  of  disease  which  must  be 
fatal  to  them  in  the  New  World.  And  it  was  use- 
less to  recur  to  the  remote  and  complex  causes  of 
that  misery,  "  before  which,"  as  one  minister  re- 
marked, "we  are  as  sorrowful  as  we  are  powerless," 
to  the  greater  and  greater  impoverishment  of  the 
soil,  to  cultivation  neglected  on  account  of  the  revo- 
lution, to  imposts  increased  by  political  necessity,  to 
the  heritage  of  the  past,  to  foreign  competition,  to 
malaria.  In  spite  of  myself  those  words  of  Gior- 
dani  would  be  in  my  memory  like  a  refrain  :  "Our 
country  will  be  blessed  so  soon  as  it  shall  remember 
that  the  peasants,  too,  are  men."  I  could  not  but 
allow  that  human  wickedness  and  selfishness  was 
greatly  to  blame  in  this  matter.  So  many  indolent 
gentlemen  for  whom  life  in  the  country  is  but  a  care- 
less sojourn  of  a  few  days,  and  the  hard  lot  of  the 
toiling  classes  nothing  but  the  conventional  com- 

o  O 

plaint  of  humanitarian  Utopians ;  so  many  farmers 
without  discretion  or  conscience ;  so  many  heartless, 
lawless  usurers ;  so  many  middlemen  and  traders 
who  must  make  money  no  matter  how,  foregoing 
nothing,  trampling  every  consideration  under  foot; 


jforwarfc  anfc  Bft.  55 

ferocious  despisers  of  the  instruments  they  make  use 
of,  whose  fortunes  rise  from  an  unwearied  course  of 
sordid  oppression,  petty  larcenies,  and  small  deceits, 
from  crumbs  of  bread,  from  centesimi  wrung  on 
every  side  for  thirty  years  out  of  poor  creatures  who 
have  not  enough  to  eat.  And  then  I  thought  of  the 

O  O 

thousands  of  others  who,  stuffing   their  ears  with 

/  O 

cotton,  as  it  were,  rub  their  hands  and  hum  a  tune. 
And  it  seemed  to  me  that  there  is  something  worse 
than  profiting  by  the  misery  we  despise,  and  that  is, 
denying  its  existence  while  it  is  wailing  and  howling 
at  our  doors. 

I  should  have  liked  to  go  down  among  these  people 
and  talk  with  some  of  them,  but  thought  it  better,  on 
the  whole,  to  wait  for  a  day  when  the  crowd  should 
be  less.  To  get  rid  of  uncomfortable  thoughts  I 
went  to  pass  an  hour  on  the  so-called  piazzetta  or 
little  square,  a  part  of  the  deck  on  the  port  side  of 
the  ship  between  the  midship-deck  and  the  poop. 
It  had  been  given  the  name  of  the  piazzetta  because, 
as  the  doors  of  the  saloon,  the  smoking-room,  and  the 
pantry  opened  upon  it,  there  was  there,  of  necessity,  a 
constant  traffic  of  people  ;  and  being,  moreover,  shel- 
tered from  the  trade-winds  which  swept  the  poop- 
deck  above,  the  ladies  cono;re£;ated  there  to  read  and 

*  O          O 

do  their  embroidery  work.  The  staterooms,  too,  on 
one  side,  with  their  green  window-blinds  did  give  it 
the  look  of  a  theatrical  piazzetta,  and  the  covered 
passage  that  ended  there  was  like  a  public  street. 


56  ©n  Blue  Mater. 

Here  was  where  we  read  the  daily  bulletins  of  the 
course  and  the  distance  made,  with  the  latitude  and 
longitude,  all  posted  up  on  a  slate  hanging  at  the 
door  of  the  saloon  ;  and  here  the  officers  usually  came 
to  take  the  sun  at  noon,  and  here  were  retailed  the 
first  bits  of  news  in  the  daily  chronicle  of  our  voyage. 
It  was  a  nook  where  one  smoked  a  ciirar  with  calm 

O 

contentment,  as  if  in  front  of  the  cafe ;  and  there  was 
a  kind  of  sense  of  being  on  shore  and  enjoying  city 
life.  Now  and  then  there  came  a  little  dash  of  spray 
that  sprinkled  the  books  and  embroidery  of  the 
ladies,  who  would  hastily  make  their  escape,  but 
soon  come  back  asjain.  And  it  was  here  during  the 

O  O 

first  few  days  that  the  greater  part  of  the  passengers 
had  made  acquaintance. 

When  I  got  there  that  morning,  there  introduced 
himself  with  attractive  ease  a  passenger  whom  I  had 
not  before  noticed,  and  who  was  to  be  my  most 
agreeable  associate  from  that  time  until  the  end  of  the 
voyage.  It  was  a  Turinese  agent  of  a  banking-house 
in  Genoa.  He  went  to  the  Argentine  nearly  every 
year,  and  was  one  of  those  men  whom  one  gets  to 
know  thoroughly  in  an  hour's  time.  He  had  the 
look  of  a  comic  actor,  was  well  dressed,  white  hair 
and  black  mustaches,  a  face  so  serious  that  it  made 
one  laugh,  eyes  like  a  schoolboy's,  a  brain  full  of 
notions,  an  inexhaustible  good-humor,  and  a  ready 
flow  of  talk,  slightly  euphuistical  but  without  affect- 
ation, tormented  by  a  gossipy  curiosity,  thinking 


fforwarfc  anfc  Hft.  57 

of  nothing  but  the  people  about  him  ;  as  indefatig- 
able and  sharp  as  an  old  detective,  prying  into  and 
finding  out  all  about  other  persons'  affairs,  and  excess- 
ively skilful  at  making  fun  out  of  them  for  his  own 
benefit  and  that  of  the  company,  but  without  ever 
being  suspected  by  anybody.  He  knew  the  most 
amazing  things  about  several  passengers  with  whom 
he  had  made  the  voyage,  and  after  ten  minutes'  talk 
began  familiarly  to  ask  me  if  I  knew  this  gentleman 
or  that  lady.  But  I  could  not  listen  to  him  just 
then,  because  my  attention  was  attracted  to  another 
personage, — the  type  of  a  curious  set  of  people  whom 
I  saw  now  for  the  first  time. 

It  was  the  mill-owner,  who  was  running  down  Italy 
as  he  lounged  in  the  middle  of  a  group  of  passengers, 
and  gloried  in  his  lately  acquired  corporosity  as  if  it 
were  a  mark  of  gentility.  He  was  dressed  like  a 
well-to-do  farm  steward  ;  had  a  huge  gold  ring  on  his 
right  hand,  a  snaky  eye,  a  petulant  nose,  and  a  con- 
ceited mouth.  From  his  face  and  his  talk  he  seemed 
to  be  one  of  those  old  emigrants  who,  having  made 
their  fortune  without  getting  any  education,  think, 
on  returning  to  their  own  country,  that  they  will  have 
but  to  show  their  well-filled  purses  and  hold  forth 
before  the  apothecary's  shop  in  a  mixture  of  lies  and 
bragging  about  all  sorts  of  far-off  things,  to  be  elected 

oO        O  O    / 

councillors  and  made  syndics,  and  to  mount  on  the 
shoulders  of  their  fellow-townsmen,  who  will  of 
course  not  dare  to  say  a  word  because  they  have  not 


58  <§>n  JSlue  Mater. 

stirred  from  home.  This  one  certainly  must  have  had 
a  sharp  awakening;  and  his  scorched  self-love  must 
have  pained  him  cruelly  under  all  his  show  of  rude 
joviality.  Three  months,  he  said,  were  enough  to  show 
him  that  his  native  air  would  not  do  for  him  any  more. 
After  twenty  years  he  expected  to  find  a  transforma- 
tion  there, — some  progress.  He  had  instead  found 
the  old  ideas,  the  old  prejudices,  the  same  sordid  life 
and  accursed  creed.  A  hundred  doors  around  one 

O  O 

bone,  when  there  was  a  bone ;  and  no  enterprise  in 
business ;  everything  moving  on  leaden  feet ;  a  thou- 
sand perplexities ;  all  misers,  rotten,  suspicious ;  an 
entire  want  of  cdballerosidad.  So  saying,  he  sent 
glances  at  the  Italians  who  were  near  by,  as  if  rather 
enjoying  the  chance  of  wounding  their  national 
pride.  But  the  best  was  to  listen  to  his  vocabu- 
lary. It  was  the  first  sample  I  had  come  across  of 
the  strange  jargon  spoken  by  our  lower  classes  after 
many  years'  sojourn  in  the  Argentine,  where,  by  min- 
gling with  the  people  of  the  country  and  with  their 
fellow-citizens  from  various  parts  of  Italy,  almost  all 
of  them  lose  their  own  dialect  and  <*et  a  little  Italian, 

O 

and  then  confound  Italian  with  their  own  dialect, 
putting  vernr.cular  terminations  upon  Spanish  radi- 
cals, and  vice  versa,  translating  literally  from  each 
language  phrases  which  in  translation  change  their 
meaning  or  lose  it  altogether,  and  occasionally  jump- 
ing half  a  dozen  times  in  the  course  of  one  sentence 
from  one  language  to  the  other  like  so  many  maniacs. 


jforwarfc  anfc  aft.  59 

Amazed,  I  heard  him  say,  si  precisa  molta  plata,  for 
"  ci  vuol  molto  danaro," — much  money  is  needed ; 
gitastar  capital^  for  "  spender  capital!," — spend  prin- 
cipal ;  son  salito  con  un  carigo  di  trigo,  for  "  son  partito 
con  un  carico  di  grano," — I  set  out  with  a  cargo  of 
grain.  And  in  this  horrible  jargon  he  went  on  at- 
tacking the  government,  the  behiud-the-age  (atrasado) 
government,  the  beggarly  people  (inendigos),  the 
Chamber  of  Deputies,  and  even  the  works  of  art, 
remarking  that  as  he  passed  through  Milan  he  had 
found  the  cathedral  much  smaller  than  he  remem- 
bered it.  He  glorified  the  beauty  of  the  American 
plains,  using  a  broad,  clumsy  gesture  like  a  tipsy 
landscape  painter.  But  he  always  came  back  to  Italy 
with  a  sort  of  refrain,  no  doubt  picked  out  of  the 
leading  article  in  some  provincial  newspaper.  "  Me- 
diaeval, you  know,  mediaeval." 

The  bank  agent,  who  was  listening  at  the  same 
time  and  laughing  in  his  face,  had  had  experience  of 
that  style  of  patriot,  and  told  me  that  when  such 
persons  were  in  America  they  took  the  other  side,  or 
rather  they  abused  everything,  glorying  in  their 
own  distant  native  laud,  compared  to  which  they 
regarded  as  uncivilized,  ignorant,  and  repulsive  the 
laud  in  which  they  had  found  refuge  and  in  which 
they  had  grown  rich.  But  he  cut  this  talk  short  off 
to  tell  me  that  he  had  found  a  most  delightful  origi- 
nal among  the  crew,  an  old  hunchbacked  sailor  who 
was  set  to  keep  order  in  the  women's  cabin.  This 


60  <§m  Blue  Mater. 

was  an  exceedingly  delicate  matter  which  required 
in  the  employe  not  only  the  guaranty  of  very  ma- 
ture age  indeed,  but  also  the  absence  of  every 
aesthetic  bodily  quality  which  could  possibly  touch 
the  female  heart.  This  hoary  hunchbacked  dwarf, 
who  had  to  separate  the  two  sexes  at  nightfall  and  see 
that  no  woman  came  out  from  the  cabin  during  the 

O 

night,  was  a  queer  mixture  of  the  buffoon  and  the 
philosopher,  who  kept  droning  out  all  sorts  of  say 
ings  against  women,  the  torments  of  his  life,  with  a 
kind  of  pulpit  solemnity,  and  sometimes  with  a  turn 
of  expression  so  intricate  that  one  could  not  under- 
stand at  all  what  he  wrished  to  say.  "  You  must 
talk  with  him;  you  will  be  greatly  amused.  And 
that  other  one,"  he  went  on,  "  have  you  marked 
him?"  And  he  pointed  out  the  handsome,  well- 
pomaded  steward  of  the  first  class,  who  went  by, 
tray  in  hand,  casting  languid  looks  upon  the  ladies. 
This  was  a  kind  of  marine  Ruy  Bias  who  looked 
high,  and  tried  in  everyway  to  have  it  understood 
that  the  lowliness  of  his  social  condition  on  board 
was  alleviated  by  mysterious  and  miraculous  success 
amono;  the  fair  sex.  Meanwhile  he  was  sultan  to 

O 

the  two  stewardesses,  a  mellow  Genoese  and  a  fresh 
Venetian,  each  fit  to  tear  the  other's  heart  out  for 
jealousy,  and  who,  with  hands  on  hips  and  caps 
awry,  quarrelled  noisily  and  coarsely  in  the  corridors 
of  a  morning  while  the  ladies  were  ringing  for  them. 
At  that  moment  a  passenger  went  by, — the  Genoese 


jforwaro  ano  aft.  61 

who  sat  on  the  captain's  right  at  table, — a  dumpy, 
good-natured  little  man,  fifty  years  old  or  so,  with 
but  one  eye,  and  a  beard  like  a  scrubbing-brush.  In 
passing  us,  he  made  the  agent  a  sign  which  I  did  not 
understand,  and  then  went  on  deck.  I  asked  what 
that  sign  should  mean.  "  It  means,"  said  the  agent, 
"that  there  is  maccaroni  with  gravy  to-day."  So  he 
sketched  me  the  portrait  of  this  gentleman.  He  was 
a  well-to-do  business  man  in  Buenos  Ay  res,  one  of 
those  many  unhappy  creatures  who,  though  perfectly 
well  on  board  ship,  can  neither  talk,  nor  read,  nor 
think,  and  are  bored  with  a  boredom  that  is  un- 
imaginable, torturing,  overwhelming,  mortal.  This 
gentleman,  for  a  little  relief,  had  gone  into  gastron- 
omy, for  which  he  had  a  turn.  He  had  established 
relations  with  the  cook;  he  was  the  first  to  know  in 
the  morning  what  there  was  for  dinner,  and  eagerly 
carried  the  news  about.  He  was  in  and  out  of  the 
kitchen  twenty  times  a  day,  saw  to  the  plucking  of 
the  fowls,  chatted  with  the  scullions,  peeped  into  the 
baking-ovens,  had  talks  with  the  pastry-cook  and 
the  canteen  man  forward,  went  down  into  the  store- 
room and  drank  a  dozen  glasses  of  vermouth  to 
hasten  on  the  dinner  hour.  He  conversed  but  little, 
and  that  always  about  gormandizing;  and  when 
not  thus  occupied,  passed  hours  in  his  berth,  his 
hands  under  his  head,  his  eyes  wide  open,  yawning 
grievous  yawns  as  if  hypnotized,  or  like  a  lion  in  a 
show;  one  yawn  right  after  another,  fit  to  make  one 


62  ©n  Blue  Mater. 

believe  (if  the  idea  of  some  people  or  other,  I  do  not 
know  which,  be  true,  that  at  every  yawn  there  issues 
from  the  man's  mouth  the  soul  of  one  of  his  an- 
cestors) that  he  had  long  ago  breathed  out  the  soul 
of  father  Adam. 

"  Do  you  know  any  more  ? "  I  asked.  "  Why  not  ? " 
(  Y  como  noo  ?  Pure  Argentine,  in  sing-song  tone. 
All  Italians  take  it  up.)  But  this  time,  as  the  person 
spoken  of  was  near  by,  he  lowered  his  voice  and  told 
me  in  my  ear  to  look  to  the  left  in  a  corner  of  the 
piazzetta.  Among  the  ladies  there  was  one  of  forty 
years  or  so,  with  large  piercing  eyes,  rather  sallow, 
elegantly  dressed  ;  a  strange  face,  which  at  a  little 
distance,  when  it  smiled  and  showed  the  beautiful 
white  teeth,  seemed  good  and  lovely,  and  most  pleas- 
ing ;  but  on  drawing  nearer  there  seemed  to  come  out, 
hard  lines,  evil  little  wrinkles.  The  mouth,  too, 
bitter  with  envy  and  disappointed  ambition,  revealed 
a  constant  habit  of  unfeeling  slander.  Beside  her 

O 

was  a  dried-up  young  girl  who  might  have  been 
about  fifteen  years  old  ;  a  washed-out  blonde,  still  in 
short  dresses,  with  a  meaningless  face  bent  over  her 

O 

embroidery.  The  lady  was  skimming  a  book,  but 
would  glance  sharply  up  at  every  word  or  step  that 
she  heard  near  her.  Mother  and  daughter,  the  a^ent 

^  o 

said.  He  had  made  the  voyage  with  them  the  year 
before  in  the  Faliniiie.  The  mother  had  been  taking 

o 

the  daughter  to  Germany  to  master  the  pianoforte; 
both  of  Spanish  descent,  but  born  in  Italy  and 


jforwarfc  ant>  Bft.  63 

settled  in  the  Argentine.  The  mother  had  an  arrowy 
tongue  fit  to  raise  a  tumult  among  the  passengers, 
and  was  so  envious  about  dress  that  every  new 
toilette  that  appeared  on  board  was  like  a  knife  thrust 
into  her  body.  "And  what  do  you  think  of  the 
daughter  ?  "  — u  Nothing  at  all — an  ill-developed 
schoolgirl  that  might  be  playing  with  her  dolls." — 
"  Never  made  a  greater  mistake  in  your  life, — beg- 
ging your  pardon,"  cried  the  agent,  and  he  took  me 
over  to  the  other  side  of  the  piazzetta  so  as  to  speak 
more  freely.  That  dried-up  little  thing  that  no  one 
noticed  was  a  real  psychiatric  case  worthy  the  atten- 
tion of  the  alienist.  The  year  before  in  the  Ful- 
mine,  one  of  the  officers  of  the  ship,  a  handsome 
youncj  fellow,  a  friend  of  his,  used  to  chat  now  and 

J  O 

then  with  the  mother,  but  probably  never,  during 
the  whole  voyage,  had  exchanged  twenty  words  with 
"  that  ugly  little  (acqua  cheta)  still-waters,"  who  re- 
garded him  with  an  eye  of  the  most  tranquil  indif- 
ference. And  yet  beneath  all  that  there  had  been 
burning  a  kind  of  love  that  never  seems  to  break  out 
except  on  board  ship  in  the  silence  cf  the  cabin  and 
in  the  solitude  of  the  ocean,  where  soul  sometimes 
seems  to  grapple  to  soul  with  the  fury  of  the  sinking 
sailor  as  he  grasps  a  floating  plank.  As  soon  as  they 
landed  at  Genoa,  the  lady  and  the  daughter  set  out 
for  Germany,  and  the  young  officer  received  next  day 
a  letter  of  eight  pages,  "full  of  a  passion  so  furious, 
such  phrases,  such  red-hot  phrases  you  know — cries 


64  Qn  Blue  Mater. 

of  passion  fit  to  make  a  man  shudder, — a  brutal  tu  at 
every  line,  cataracts  of  insensate  adjectives,  words 
that  were  sobs,  kisses,  bites — a  language  incredible, 
unspeakable — at  thirteen  years  old  !  And  in  midst 
of  this  lava-flow,  blunders  in  grammar  and  spelling; 
and  between  two  leaves,  some  hair."  Then,  looking 
hard  at  me,  "Only  think — Some  hair!  The  Lord 
knows  where  her  wits  were.  And  mark  this  !  A 
letter  giving  no  address  and  so  without  object- 
nothing  but  the  ungovernable  outbreak  of  soul  and 
body  tortured  by  twenty  days  of  silence  and  enforced 
hypocrisy."  I  turned  to  look  at  the  girl  and  could 
not  help  saying,  "  It  is  impossible."  But  the  agent 
made  a  movement  as  if  I  had  denied  the  liojht  of  the 

O 

sun.  It  was  quite  true.  "And  so — ?"  "  A  record 
of  human  nature. — That's  all." 

As  he  said  this  the  Garibaldian  came  by  from 
forward.  He  passed  near  me  and  I  asked  him, 
almost  involuntarily,  from  a  kind  of  fellow-feel- 
ing, "Have  you  been  among  the  emigrants?"  He 
seemed  surprised  that  I  should  address  him,  and 
nodded,  yes — coming  to  a  stand,  but  half-turned 
away  like  a  man  that  means  to  talk  but  little. 
The  agent,  who  no  doubt  perceived  in  this  gentle- 
man an  instinctive  antipathy  for  men  of  his  stamp, 
moved  oft'. 

I  asked  once  more,  "  Have  you  seen  those  poor 
peasants  ?" 

"The  peasant,"  he  said,  looking  at  the  sea,    "is 


jforwarfc  anfc  Hft.  65 

an  embryo  burgher."  l  I  did  not  at  once  catch  his 
idea. 

"The  only  merit  they  have,"  he  went  on,  without 
looking  at  me,  "is  their  not  trying  to  put  on  that  mask 
of  patriotic  and  humanitarian  rhetoric.  Otherwise 
the  usual  egoism  of  domesticated  animals.  Their 
stomachs,  their  pockets.  Not  even  the  idea  of  elevat- 
ing their  own  class.  Each  would  like  to  see  the  others 

O 

worse  off  so  only  lie  might  get  on  better  himself.  If 
the  Austrians  came  back  and  made  them  rich  they 
would  be  for  the  Austrians."  Then,  after  a  pause, 
"  I  wish  them  joy." 

"And  yet,"  I  observed,  "when  they  are  in  Amer- 
ica they  remember  and  love  their  native  country." 

He  leaned  over  the  bulwark  towards  the  sea  ;  then 
answered,  "Their  native  land,  yes;  not  their  country." 
(La  terra,  non  la  patria^) 

"  I  do  not  agree  with  you,"  I  said. 

He  shrugged  his  shoulders.  Then  without  preface, 
and  in  the  tone  of  one  who  means  to  be  rid,  once  for 
all,  of  an  importunate  person,  rather  than  to  confide  in 
him,  he  spoke  his  mind  in  a  few  quick,  dry  words.  He 
did  not  even  mourn  for  his  country  after  all.  She 
had  fallen  too  far  short  of  the  ideal  for  which  he  had 
fought.  An  Italy  of  declaimers  and  plotters  infested 
with  old-time  court-intrigue,  dropsical  with  vanity, 
void  of  every  great  ideal,  beloved  by  none,  feared  by 
none ;  like  an  abandoned  woman,  now  caressed,  now 

1  Borghese  is  not  accurately  translatable  into  English. 


66  <§>n  Blue  Mater. 

buffetted,  by  one  and  by  another ;  strong  in  nothing 
but  the  patience  of  a  beast  of  burden.  High  and 
low,  nothing  to  be  seen  but  universal  rottenness.  A 
policy  that  licks  the  hand  of  the  most  powerful,  who- 
ever he  may  be ;  a  scepticism  tormented  by  secret 
terror  of  the  priest ;  a  philanthropy  inspired  not  by 
generous  individual  sentiment,  but  by  timid  class 
interest.  And  no  honor,  not  even  kingly  honor. 
Millions  of  monarchists,  incapable  of  defending  their 
own  banner  in  time  of  need,  and  ready  to  grovel  on 
their  faces  before  the  Phrygian  cap  so  soon  as  they 
see  it  reared  aloft.  A  furious  eagerness  in  all  to 

o 

reach,  not  glory  but  fortune ;  the  education  of  youth 
directed  to  this  end  alone ;  every  family  a  business 
firm,  without  any  scruple,  and  ready  to  coin  false 
money  so  only  they  can  get  their  children  on  in  the 
world  ;  the  sisters  following  the  brothers,  losing  day 
by  day  from  the  education  and  life  of  woman  all 
spirit  of  poetry  and  of  breeding.  And  while  popu- 
lar instruction,  a  mere  pretence,  was  planting  the 
seeds  of  nothing  but  pride  and  envy,  misery  was  in- 
creasing and  crime  was  flourishing.  Could  those 
men  who  gave  their  blood  for  the  redemption  of 
Italy  come  back  to  life,  one  half  of  them  would  blow 
their  brains  out. 

So  saying  he  turned  away. 

"  I  do  not  agree  with  you,"  I  said.  "  We  our- 
selves are  the  cause  of  the  disillusioning  that  we 

o 

have  suffered ;  for  we  imagined  that  the  liberation, 


anfc  Bft.  67 

the  unification,  of  Italy  would  bring  about  a  com- 
plete moral  regeneration,  would  do  away,  as  by 
miracle,  with  crime  and  suffering.  We  must  not 
judge  the  present  state  of  things  by  an  ideal  standard 
to  which  one  nation  is  not  much  nearer  than  another. 
We  must  judge  it  by  the  past,  the  horrible  and  dis- 
graceful past.  To  have  come  out  of  that,  no  matter 
how,  is  comfort  enough." 

He  made  no  answer. 

I  asked  if  he  were  going  to  the  Argentine,  and 
if  he  had  any  relatives  there.  He  was  going  to  the 
Argentine,  and  he  had  no  relatives  there. 

I  then  observed,  for  the  first  time,  that  he  had  be- 
hind his  ear  a  deep  scar  as  from  the  wound  of  a  pistol- 
ball. 

I  asked  if  he  had  made  the  campaign  of  sixty-six, 
not  supposing  from  his  age  that  he  could  have  been 
in  that  of  sixty. 

But  he  had  been  through  the  last  also,  at  sixteen 
years  of  age. 

I  looked  at  him  attentively  and  asked  if  he  had 
ever  been  hit. 

Never, — he  said,  quite  naturally. 

But  turning  unexpectedly  at  that  instant,  and 
taking  me  in  the  act  of  looking  behind  his  ear,  he 
gave  me  a  quick,  searching  glance,  while  a  flush  rose 
to  his  cheek,  and  a  flash  of  anger  shot  from  his  eye. 
He  frowned  and  turned  once  more  to  look  at  the 
horizon  with  a  sharp  movement  that  said  most 


68  ©n  Blue  Water, 

plainly,  "  Let  me  alone."  But  that  look  had  revealed 
to  me  a  secret  of  liis  life,  a  terrible  moment  to  which 
lie  must  have  been  brought  by  long  and  bitter  suffer- 
ing, and  after  a  great  change  had  been  wrought  in  a 
mind  no  doubt  once  firm  and  full  of  fertile  force, 
like  his  fine  soldierly,  athletic  body.  And  all  enthu- 
siasm, all  affection,  perhaps,  was  dead  in  him;  but 
the  unbelief  into  which  he  had  fallen,  was  not  iur- 

/  *—j 

noble  scepticism;  for  he  suffered,  and  he  still  loved 
the  good  in  which,  alas  !  he  could  no  longer  place 
any  hope.  I  saw,  moreover,  that  there  could  never 
be  anything  in  common  between  him  and  me, — or 
anyone  else  for  that  matter;  so  I  left  him  alone 
there,  looking  at  the  sea. 

7  O 

And  I  went  over  to  the  other  side  of  the  deck  to 
look  at  it  myself,  for  since  the  day  we  sailed  it  had 
never  been  as  now, — all  bright,  frolicking  waves 
which  rose,  lucent  and  tender,  with  a  hundred  soft- 
ening shades  of  crystal  blue  and  green,  of  velvet 
and  of  satin,  crowned  by  silvery  tufts  and  plumes, 
by  crisp  white  crests  and  a  thousand  little  rainbows 
hung  amid  a  mist  of  drops ;  and  ever  and  anon  a 
high  white  spout  of  water  through  it  all,  like  a  cry 
of  joy  from  that  crowd  that  was  dancing  in  the  sun 
beneath  the  kiss  of  the  trade-wind.  The  swell  would 
roll  up  to  the  level  of  the  deck  and  then  sink  out  of 
sight,  like  a  threat  that  turns  into  a  jest,  and  then  rise 
again,  as  if  angry  at  not  being  able  to  say  it,  giving 
place  to  other  billows  which  kept  running  up  and 


jforwarfc  an&  Eft.  69 

looking  at  us,  and  then  going  out  of  sight  with  their 
secret,  like  the  rest.  And  I  could  have  remained 
there  for  hours  to  watch  that  ceaseless  forming;  and 

CD 

dissolving  of  snowy  mountain  chains  and  hollow 
valleys,  of  solitary  and  fantastic  tracts,  thrown  to- 
gether, dispersed,  collected,  scattered  again,  like  the 
surface  of  a  world  at  the  will  of  a  god.  But  all  this 
turmoil  was  near  us  only;  around  us  and  afar  the 
sea  was  moveless,  laughing  blue,  picked  out  with 
whitest  spots  that  seemed  the  sails  of  countless  fleets 
in  company  with  u«0 


CHAPTER  V 


LADIES    AND    GENTLEMEN 


AVING  at  hand  a  living  gazette 
in  the  bank  agent,  I  was  not  long 
in  finding  out,  almost  involun- 

O  ' 

tarily,  all  about  many  of  the 
first-class  passengers.  The  next 
morning  the  agent  came  to  sit 
beside  me  in  place  of  the  advocate,  who  had  not  left 
his  room.  Every  day  this  gentleman  made  half  a 
dozen  new  acquaintances.  The  morning  before,  he 
had  got  into  conversation  with  the  young  couple 
that  occupied  the  stateroom  next  to  his,  and  finding 
that  they  were  timid  and  embarrassed  before  other 
people,  he  thought  he  would  torment  them  a  little. 
Hardly,  accordingly,  had  he  taken  his  seat  when  he 
asked  the  young  people  sitting  opposite  whether  they 
had  rested  well.  "  Quite  well,  thank  you,"  they  an- 
swered with  an  uneasy  glance.  "  And  yet,"  said  the 
other,  with  the  most  natural  air  in  the  world,  but 
looking  hard  at  both,  "  and  yet  the  sea  was,  I  thought, 


XaMes  anfc  Gentlemen.  71 

rather  rough  last  night."  The  rest  smiled  ;  the  young 
couple  blushed  and  began  to  examine  the  knives  and 
forks  with  much  attention,  while  the  agent  talked 
quietly  and  pleasantly  on  without  appearing  to  notice; 
doing,  the  while,  great  honor  to  the  cookery  of  the 
Galileo.  The  tall  priest  was  a  Neapolitan  who  had 
been  settled  in  the  Argentine  for  about  thirty  years. 
He  was  returning  thither  after  a  short  trip  to  Italy, 
made,  he  said  (though  there  were  doubts  about  it), 
to  see  the  Pope.  The  agent  had  heard  his  story  one 
evening.  He  had  gone  to  the  Argentine  with  what 
he  stood  in ;  had  been  parish  priest  of  rising  farm 
colonies  in  several  States  of  the  Republic,  in  regions 
almost  uninhabited,  where  he  carried  the  viaticum  on 
horseback,  galloping  all  night  long  with  the  host 
about  his  neck  and  a  revolver  in  his  belt.  He  had, 
he  said,  been  several  times  attacked  and  had  defended 
himself  with  his  weapon  ;  and  it  had  happened,  more- 
over, that  travellers,  meeting  him  by  moonlight,  had 
taken  to  flight,  scared  by  his  great  black  shadow.  It 
was  clear  that  he  had  had  as  much  care  for  his  own 
body  as  for  other  men's  souls,  and  had  been  in  the 
habit  of  accepting  a  fancy  price  for  the  marriage  and 
burial  services.  At  any  rate  he  boasted  of  having  got 
together  a  comfortable  maintenance,  and  was  always 
discoursing  of  pesos  audpatacones  with  a  disagreeable 
flapping  about  of  his  hands,  like  a  weathercock,  and 
with  a  Basso  porto  accent  which  years  of  speaking 
Spanish  had  not  been  able  to  obliterate.  The  agent 


72  ©n  Blue  Mater. 

knew  but  little  of  the  tenor.  He  had,  he  believed, 
a  good  voice  enough ;  it  made  one  think  of  a  scalded 
cat, — but  no  matter, — and  he  was,  as  usual,  a  very 
peacock  for  conceit.  From  the  first  day  he  had  gone 
around  among  the  passengers  exhibiting  a  tattered 
newspaper  with  a  These-Our-Actors  article  and  the 
words  underlined,  "This  artist  has  the  key  to  the 
human  heart." — "  Made  one  think  of  his  hearers' 
house-door  keys,"  said  the  agent,  but  that  might 
be  an  error.  Believed  the  tenor  was  getting  up 
a  vocal  and  instrumental  concert  for  the  evening 
when  we  crossed  the  Line.  He  knew  more  about 
the  blonde  lady  with  the  black-silk  stockings,— 
Italian-Swiss, — wife  of  an  Italian  professor  of  some- 
thing or  other  at  Montevideo.  Had  made  the  voy- 
age from  America  to  Genoa  with  her  two  years 
previously.  An  excellent  creature,  as  good  as  gold 
(buona  come  il  pane),  with  the  brain  of  a  sparrow, 
—as  beautiful  and  as  ignorant  as  a  dahlia, — a  great 
thirty-year-old  girl  whom  the  solitary  condition  of 
single  male  passengers  inspired  with  a  bold  and  lov- 
ing pity.  During  ten  years,  taking  every  now  and 
then  a  run  over  to  her  native  country,  she  had  been, 
with  her  childish  good-humor,  the  life  of  six  or  eight 
different  ships,  and  had  consoled  with  her  sweet  pity 
as  many  sets  of  passengers,  so  that  she  enjoyed  a 
kind  of  jolly  celebrity  with  the  Societa  di  Navigazi- 
one.  In  a  trip  of  two  years  previous,  amongst 
others,  she  had  had  a  droll  adventure  with  an  Argen- 


Xafcies  anfc  Gentlemen.  73 

tine,  a  deputy,  who,  it  did  so  happen,  was  on  board 
with  us  in  the  Galileo.  This  gentleman,  a  very  good- 
humored,  amiable  person,  but  exceedingly  precise 
and  orderly  in  his  habits,  occupied  a  stateroom  on 
deck.  So,  while  he  was  amusing  himself  in  the 
saloon  or  pacing  the  fore-deck,  this  lady  and  a  friend 
of  hers  would  go  and  throw  everything  about  in  his 
room,  and  he  would  storm  and  rage  over  having  to 
set  it  to  rights.  This  had  gone  on  well  enough 
several  times.  But  one  day  when  the  sweet  Swiss 
had  made  the  venture  alone,  the  gentleman  had  un- 
expectedly come  back,  had  flown  into  a  passion  and 
had  shut  the  lady  up  in  the  room  until  she  should 
have  restored  order.  But  this,  being  no  light  task, 
lasted  some  time ;  and,  a  sudden  squall  coming  up, 
the  lady  remained  shut  in  there  for  several  hours, 
her  alarmed  husband  meanwhile  looking  and  calling 
out  for  her  along  the  corridors,  demanding  that  a 
boat  should  be  lowered  to  pick  her  up,  and  wholly 
unconscious  of  the  derisive  pity  of  those  about  him. 
But  no  further  harm  came  of  it.  On  this  voyage, 
however,  the  lady  and  gentleman  made  no  sign  of 
ever  having  met  before.  I  turned  to  look  at  the 
deputy,  where  he  sat  at  the  lower  end  of  the  table. 
A  dark  man,  between  thirty-eight  and  forty,  strong 
profile,  eye-glasses, — the  face  of  a  man  who  would 
not  allow  his  home  to  be  invaded  with  impunity. 
As  for  the  professor-husband,  the  agent  said  he  was 
a  fine  man,  devoted  to  the  study  of  nautical  median- 


74 


©n  Blue  Mater. 


ics,  although  he  had  a  face  rather  literary  than  scien- 
tific, and  he  passed  the  day  in  grave  meditation 
before  the  engine,  the  wheel,  the  capstan;  at  every 

fresh  order  that  was 
given  on  board  requir- 
ing the  most  minute 
explanation  from  the 
officers.  This  he  carried 
forward,  for  the  pleasure 
of  giving  to  the  people 
there  morsels  of  the 
bread  of  science,  while 
those  on  the  poop-deck 
enjoyed  his. '  But  I  was 
just  then  looking  at  the 
next  neighbor  of  the 
Argentine,  a  pale,  blond 
man  with  a  pair  of  whis- 
kers like  weeping-wil- 
lows in  hair,  such  as  are 
seen  in  the  hair-dress- 
ers' windows,  and  who 
rolled  his  eyes  around 
upon  the  rest  of  us  like  a  suspicious  fish,  but  spoke 
to  no  one.  I  asked  the  agent  if  he  knew  who  he 
was.  "O,  he  is  worth  your  while."  Thought  to  be 
a  thief  escaping.  People  were  talking  of  it  on  board 
the  ship.  Frenchman.  One  of  the  passengers  read- 
ing the  Figaro,  which  had  reached  Genoa  on  the  day 


"Ube  professoi'sbusbaiifc." 


XaMes  anfc  Gentlemen.  75 

of  sailing,  thought  he  perceived  a  striking  resem- 
blance between  this  strange,  suspicious  face  and  cer- 
tain traits  which  the  Paris  journal  ascribed  to  the 
cashier  of  a  bank  in  Lyons  who  had  disappeared 
three  days  before,  leaving  his  safe  an  exhausted  re- 
ceiver. The  agent  said  he  had  made  his  investiga- 
tions ;  at  any  rate  he  hoped  to  find  out  all  about  it  on 
our  arrival,  when  the  police  should  come  on  board. 
He  had  not  asked  any  questions  about  the  married 
couple  seated  opposite  this  last  gentleman.  They 
were  my  neighbors  below,  they  of  the  brush.  The 
lady  forty  or  so,  with  a  pair  of  cold  eyes  and  a  per- 
petual forced  smile  on  her  thin  lips.  Not  ugly,  but 
one  of  those  whose  mind  has  spoiled  the  face ;  such  as 
at  first  glance  inspire  repugnance  for  the  ill  they  work 
to  others,  and  then  compassion  for  what  they  must 
themselves  suffer.  The  husband  had  the  air  of  a 
retired  major  of  cavalry  ;  seemed  a  man  of  firm  mind, 
but  mastered  by  a  nature  stronger  than  his,  and  worn 
out  by  dull,  unchanging  trouble.  They  never  spoke 
to  one  another;  they  never  were  together  except  at 
table ;  they  behaved  like  strangers ;  but  my  neigh- 
bor noticed  that  she  darted  terrible  side-glances  at 
him  when  she  thought  he  was  looking  at  any  other 
woman, — the  jealousy  of  pride  had  survived  affection. 
An  ill-assorted  couple,  in  short ;  like  two  convicts  in 
a  chain-gang  between  whom  there  existed  a  mysteri- 
ous and  deadly  aversion.  But  the  one  my  neighbor 
knew  best  was  the  captain,  a  capital  seaman,  rough 


76  ©n  Blue  Mater. 

and  irascible,  master  of  an  amazingly  rich  vocabulary 
of  Genoese  oaths  and  abuse,  which  he  heaped  upon 
the  humbler  portion  of  the  crew, — a  perfect  litany 
of  reprimand  delivered  with  a  most  irresistible  cres- 
cendo of  effect ;  proud,  too,  of  the  vigor  of  his  fists, 
which  he  had  used  pretty  freely  during  his  twenty 
honored  years  of  command.  He  had  a  fixed  idea, 
and  that  was  an  absolute  severity  in  the  matter  of 
morals.  Porcaie  a  bordo  no  ne  veuggio,  "I  won't 
have  any  n — well,  nonsense  on  board,"  was  his 
word.  He  wished  to  have  the  ship  as  virtuous  as  a 
monastery,  and  he  thought  he  could  carry  his  point. 
Sometimes  his  lessons  were  rather  emphatic.  On  a 
previous  voyage,  having  found  out  that  two  persons 
of  opposite  sex  had  retired  to  a  deck  stateroom,  he 
had  caused  a  good  stout  batten  to  be  nailed  across 
the  door,  and  had  left  them  there  until  the  pair, 
driven  by  hunger,  had  pounded  furiously,  and  at 
last  had  come  out  coram  populo,  mezi  morti  da-a 
vergeugna, — half-dead  with  shame.  But  he  had  like 
to  have  fallen  ill  with  rage  on  the  last  trip,  for  he 
brought  from  Buenos  Ayres  to  Genoa  a  complete 
company  of  singers  and  a  corps  de  ballet  of  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  legs;  and  there  were  not  in  the  ship 
battens  enough  or  nails  enough  to  keep  them  in  order. 
In  fact,  all  his  threatening  eloquence  in  the  language 
of  xci  had  not  prevented  the  Galileo  from  becoming 
something  of  a  pandemonium.  Under  ordinary  con- 
ditions, however,  when  he  was  not  borne  down  by 


Xafcies  anfc  (Bentlemen.  77 

the  numbers  and  the  boldness  of  the  enemy,  he  was 
so  rigorous  as  not  to  allow  even  a  mild  flirtation. 
He  boasted,  too,  that  he  kept  people  in  order  with- 
out infringing  the  laws  of  courtesy,  that  he  could 
say  anything  without  offence.  When  a  passenger 
followed  any  lady  about  too  much  he  took  him  aside 
and  said,  respectfully  :  "  I  beg  your  pardon,  but  you 
are  getting  somewhat  nauseous  (angoscioso).  I  won't 
have  any  nonsense  on  board  here."  In  other  respects 
a  right  good  fellow.  The  majestic  old  person  who 
sat  beside  him,  the  Hamerling,  was  a  Chilean — a  real 
personage.  Called  on  board,  the  "  Mountain  borer," 
because  he  had  made  the  little  run  over  from  his  own 
country  (thirty-five  days  at  sea)  to  buy  tunnelling 
machines  in  England,  and  had  stayed  in  Europe,  from 
time  of  landing  to  time  of  leaving,  exactly  one  fort- 
night. Grave,  as  the  Chileans  always  are,  and  with 
high-bred  ways,  he  had  chatted  a  little  the  first  few 
days  with  the  Argentines ;  but  as  these  had  vexed 
him  in  a  dispute  about  the  eternal  question,  the  south- 
ern boundary  of  the  two  republics,  he  had  drawn 
away  from  them  and  spoke  with  no  one  but  the  cap- 
tain and  the  priest.  My  neighbor  knew  no  more  of 
him  just  then.  But  he  was  looking  up  a  beardless, 
over-dressed  young  Tuscan  who  sat  at  table  over 
against  the  professor's  wife,  on  whom  he  kept  his 
eyes,  so  absorbed  that  sometimes  his  fork  itself 
stopped  short  on  the  way  to  his  mouth,  as  if  it  were 
struck  with  admiration.  lie  seemed  a  kind  of  half- 


78  ©n  Blue  Mater, 

starved  Don  Giovanni  who  was  taking  his  first  long 
flight  from  home ;  and  he  had,  none  the  less,  an 
amazing  boldness  under  that  guise  of  sucking  premier 
amoureuXj  for  while  he  was  prancing  around  the 
Swiss  lady,  whom  he  seemed  to  have  known  on  land, 
he  was  all  the  while  making  little  excursions  for- 
ward, where  he  snuffed  the  air  like  a  young  colt, 
especially  at  evening  when  he  ran  the  risk  of  having 
the  jacket  that  he  changed  so  often  dusted  for  him 
by  the  emigrants.  So  saying,  the  agent  rolled  an 
orange  almost  into  the  plate  of  the  young  bride- 
groom, and  then  suddenly  put  out  his  hand,  saying, 
"  Would  you  mind  ? "  Unhappy  bridegroom  !  At 
that  instant,  profiting  by  the  little  confusion  usual 
at  the  end  of  every  course,  he  had  dropped  his  right 
hand  under  the  table  while  the  bride  dropped  her 
left.  At  the  unexpected  address  the  two  hands 
came  briskly  to  the  surface — separate;  but  it  was 
too  late,  a  chaste  blush  had  already  betrayed  the 
secret.  "  They  are  too  happy,"  said  the  agent  in  my 
ear,  "I  must  embitter  their  lives  for  them  a  little." 
He  then  rose,  and  when  I  went  on  deck  half  an 
hour  later,  I  found  him  talking  with  a  priest  in  the 
second  class.  But  the  second  class  was  nearly  empty 
and  offered  but  little  food  to  his  curiosity.  There 
were  two  old  priests  who  were  always  reading  their 
breviaries;  there  was  an  old  lady,  travelling  alone, 
and  wearing  glasses,  who  turned  over  from  morning 
till  night  some  old  illustrated  newspapers  ;  and  there 


XaMes  anfc  Gentlemen, 


79 


was  a  numerous  family  all  in  mourning  who  made  a 
dark,  sorrowful  group  amidships,  quite  still  for  hours 
together,  save  that  the  two  smallest  boys  would  now 
and  then  race  across  the  bridge  to  the  poop-deck, 
where  the  lady  with  the  black  cross  would  sadly 
caress  them  with  her  small  wasted  hands. 


CHAPTER   VI 


LOVES     AND     GRIEVANCES 

SPOUT  of  water,  received  full  in 
the  face  as  I  opened  my  port  for 
a  little  air  at  dawn  next  morning 
kept  me  in  my  berth  the  whole 
day  with  a  wet  bandage  around 
my  head,  to  meditate  at  leisure 
upon  the  brutality  of  Father  Ocean.  The  blow  was 
so  well  planted  that  my  Lead  was  dashed  against  the 
other  side  of  the  room,  and  I  lay  there  in  a  pool, 
stunned,  and  with  my  mouth  full  of  salt  water. 
Owino:  to  this  accident  it  was  not  until  the  ninth 

O 

day  that  I  could  make  my  visit  to  the  emigrants. 
Ruy  Bias,  as,  with  dignified  air,  he  handed  the  coffee, 
announced  that  the  weather  was  fine.  But  it  was 
not  his  decoction  that  aroused  me  so  much  as  the 
warblings  of  the  tenor  and  the  mewlings  of  the 
Brazilian  baby,  accompanied  on  the  pianoforte  by 
(no  doubt)  that  magnificent  edition  of  humanity— 
the  young  person  of  the  letter.  In  the  midst  of  these 

so 


%ov>es  ant>  Grievances.  Si 

noises  my  ear  was  pained  by  an  excited  discussion 
in  the  next  stateroom,  occupied  by  the  lady  of  the 
brush  and  her  husband.  'T  was  wondrous  pitiful.  I 
caught  no  more  than  a  word  here  and  there,  but  the 
ring  and  the  intonation  of  those  two  voices,  in  un- 
regarding  quarrel,  and,  urged  by  a  sentiment  colder 
but  more  deadly  than  anger,  bespoke  a  habit  of  dis^ 
puting  about  nothing,  an  involuntary  impulse,  a 
sudden  swelling  up  of  evil  thoughts  and  wishes 
which  they  must  give  vent  to  or  be  suffocated.  The 
dialogue  was  crossed  from  time  to  time  by  a  sardonic 
laugh  or  a  half-uttered  word  repeated  now  by  one 
now  by  the  other,  in  the  same  tone  ;  a  refrain,  as  it 
were,  of  abuse ;  and  by,  "  Oh,  hush  ! "  rather  hissed 
out  than  spoken.  The  words  seemed  all  torn  to 
pieces  between  the  teeth  so  that  it  was  impossible  to 
distinguish  the  voice  of  the  man  from  that  of  the 
woman.  It  was  a  quarrel  in  undertone,  with  poison- 
ous  blasts  for  weapons  ;  more  painful,  a  hundred 
times  over,  to  listen  to  than  if  it  had  been  yells  and 
blows.  What  a  dreadful  thing  was  that  conjugal 
hatred  shut  up  in  a  dungeon  out  on  the  wide  ocean ; 
two  creatures  tied  together  only  to  tear  each  other, 
and  carrying  from  one  side  of  the  world  to  the  other 
the  hell  that  was  tormenting  them.  Then  they 
stopped  short ;  and  a  moment  after,  as  I  came  out 
they  did  so  likewise,  perfectly  well  dressed,  and  to 
all  appearance  unmoved  ;  but  when  they  reached  the 
stairway  that  leads  to  the  deck  they  turned  one  to 

6 


©n  Blue  Mater. 


the  right  the  other  to  the  left  without  a  glance.  In 
the  corridor  I  came  upon  the  young  Tuscan,  a  good 
deal  got  up  and  standing  sentinel.  Then  passing 

the   Swiss   lady's  room  I 

thought  I  saw  the  flash 
'^k.  of  a  blue  eye  at  the 
softly  opening 
door.  Next  I 
ran  against  the 
as;ent,  who  re- 

O  7 

marked,  apropos 
of  nothing,  "Do 
you    know,   that 
young  couple  an- 
noys me  ? "     He 
had    heard    over- 
night the  bride  say- 
ing  her   prayers, 

and  then — a  variety  of  things.  Amongst  others,  at 
all  sorts  of  hours  they  would  study  the  Spanish 
grammar,  conjugating  the  verbs  in  undertone,  and 
stopping  every  now  and  then  to  kiss  each  other. 
Only  last  evening  he  had  heard  a  pluperfect  that  he 
could  not  stand.  He  was  going  to  change  his  room. 
And  he  had  accounts  to  give  me  of  some  new  peo- 
ple; but,  begging  him  to  keep  these  until  later  on, 
I  went  forward  to  see  the  emigrants  and  get  into 
talk  with  them. 

It  was  cleaning  time,  the  forecastle  was  crowded, 


'Conjugating  tbe  verbs  in  an  uitoertonc." 


anfc  0riex>ances.  83 

the  weather  fine  ;  everything  seemed  favorable.  But 
I  soon  found  it  was  not  so  easy  a  matter  as  I  had 
supposed.  Taking  the  greatest  care  to  touch  no  foot, 
I  passed  among  the  people  that  were  sitting  about, 
and  I  soon  heard  behind  me,  "  Make  way  for  the 
signori  " ;  and,  turning  round,  encountered  the  glance 
of  a  peasant  who  fixed  upon  me  an  eye  which  boldly 
confirmed  the  sense  of  his  sneering  exclamation. 

O 

Farther  on  I  put  out  my  hand  to  caress  a  child  ;  but 
the  mother  bluntly  drew  the  little  creature  to  her 
without  looking  at  me.  I  was  inexpressibly  pained. 
I  had  not  thought  of  the  state  of  mind  that  many  of 
these  people  must  naturally  be  in,  all  troubled  as  they 
were  with  memories  of  the  life  they  had  left ;  a  life  so 
intolerable  that  to  cut  it  short  they  were  willing  to 
quit  their  country.  Nor,  again,  of  the  resentment 
they  must  feel  against  that  varied  crowd  of  proprietors 
and  extortioners,  of  overseers,  of  lawyers,  of  middle- 
men, of  government  officials ;  all  known  to  them  as  the 
signori,  the  gentle  folk,  the  quality,  and  all  supposed 
to  be  leagued  together  against  them  ;  all  looked  up- 
on as  the  authors  of  their  misery.  For  them  I  was 
a  representative  of  that  class  ;  and  I  had  forgotten, 
moreover,  that  to  persons  in  their  state  of  mind  a 
denizen  of  that  little  privileged  world,  the  first  cabin, 
image  of  the  country  which  they  were  forced  to  leave, 
must  be  especially  odious ;  as  if  he  were  a  vampire 
following  them  across  the  sea  and  sucking  their  blood 
until  they  reached  America.  So  that  it  was  quite 


84  <§>n  Blue  Mater. 

impossible  that  they  should  understand  the  really 
kind  and  respectful  feelings  which  actuated  me  ;  and 
it  would  have  been  imprudent  to  enter  point-blank 
into  talk  with  any  of  them.  Had  I  done  so  they 
would  have  regarded  my  motive  as  one  of  cruel  curi- 
osity ;  a  desire  to  hear  of  woes  and  horrors  :  they 
would  have  taken  me  for  some  schemer,  some  med- 
dling contractor  who  had  come  out  in  the  Galileo  to 

o 

engage  laborers  on  the  sly,  where  he  would  not  be 
troubled  with  competition.  These  reflections  over- 
threw at  once  all  my  hopes. 

So  I  tossed  away  my  cigar  and  began  walking 
about,  looking  at  the  rigging  and  the  spars  as  if  I 
were  thinking  of  nothing  but  the  ship,  yet  all  the 
while  listening  closely.  Many  settled  groups  had 
already  been  made  up,  as  always  happens  among  emi- 
grants from  the  same  province  or  of  the  same  pro- 
fession. The  greater  part  were  peasants,  and  there 
was  no  difficulty  in  perceiving  what  was  the  princi- 
pal theme  of  discourse:  the  miserable  condition  of 
the  agricultural  class  in  Italy,  the  too  great  compe- 
tition amonjjr  the  laborers,  all  turning  to  the  ad  van  t- 

O  CD 

age  of  the  proprietors  and  tenant  farmers — low  wages 
— dear  food — excessive  taxes — seasons  with  no  work 
—bad  years — greedy  employers — no  hope  of  better- 
ing their  condition.  The  talk  for  the  most  part  took 
the  form  of  narrative:  tales  of  misery,  rascality,  in- 
justice. In  one  group,  where  a  kind  of  bitter  joyous- 
ness  appeared  to  prevail,  they  were  laughing  at  the 


OLoves  anb  Grievances.  85 

rage  which  would  devour  the  signori  when  they 
found  themselves  without  any  laborers,  forced  to 
double  wages  or  to  sell  their  lands  for  a  bit  of  bread. 

o 

"  When  we  are  all  gone," said  one,  "they  will  perish  of 
hunger  too!"  And  another,  "Before  ten  years  are 
over  the  revolution  will  break  out."  But  those  who 
said  the  most  dangerous  things  spoke  low  after  cast- 
ing a  look  around,  because  a  great  many  of  them,  as 
I  afterwards  learned,  were  afraid  the  government 
might  have  on  board  some  secret  police  service. 
There  were  groups  of  Calabrese  peasants  with  their 
hooded  cloaks,  their  sandals,  and  their  leg-bands, 
(zampitti)  ;  but  few  of  them  spoke.  In  other  parties 
the  talk  was  of  the  sea  and  of  America ;  and  it  was 
easy  to  preceive  who  had  been  there,  from  the  high 
confident  tone  in  which  such  persons  held  forth  and 
the  attention  with  which  the  others  listened ;  for  it 
is  amazing  what  power  vanity  has  over  many  of  these 
poor  creatures  even  in  their  distress ;  and  what  a 
burning  desire  they  feel  to  become  known,  to  make 
for  themselves  a  pedestal  even  in  so  poor  a  throng,  in 
order  to  show  how  superior  they  are  to  the  wretched- 
ness to  which  they  are  reduced  and  by  which  they 
are  surrounded. 

Those  who  seemed  to  talk  the  most  were  the 
Ligurians,  and  one  could  almost  know  them  by  the 
confident,  almost  defiant,  way  they  had  with  them ; 
an  air  which  comes  from  a  commercial  and  naval 
spirit  and  a  general  sense  of  fifty  years'  successful 


86  ©n  Blue  Mater. 

emigration  by  those  of  their  race.  They  had,  or 
gave  themselves,  the  air  of  being  quite  at  home  and 
at  ease  on  board  ship.  The  mountaineers,  on  the 
contrary,  were  almost  all  stolid  and  taciturn,  as  if 
dazed  by  the  sight  of  that  flat,  boundless  surface, 
so  different  from  their  mountains,  all  varied  with 
broken  plains,  and  from  their  narrow  cosy  little 
valleys.  Some  of  these  people  were  standing  up- 
right like  wooden  automatons,  some  were  crouched 
like  wild  beasts.  There  were,  however,  among  them 
a  few  of  those  bold,  light-hearted  spirits  whom 
novelty  and  the  throng  of  men  excite  like  wine. 
These  bustled  about  from  party  to  party  addressing 
their  little  remarks  to  everyone,  and  laughing  over 
the  sea  as  if  they  were  to  find  heaps  of  gold  ready 
for  them  on  their  arrival.  And  from  the  many 
couples  of  men,  and  women  too,  who  were  sitting 
talking  face  to  face,  as  if  smoking  or  working  at 
their  own  house  doors,  it  was  clear  that  not  a  few 
of  those  permanent  friendships  were  being  formed 
which,  cultivated  in  America  as  circumstances  per- 
mit, are  always  the  most  dear;  bearing  for  life,  as 
they  do,  the  impress  of  that  early  need  of  sympathy 
and  mutual  encouragement  to  face  a  mysterious  future 
which  gave  them  birth.  Women  stood  about  with 
their  infants  in  their  arms  as  at  the  corners  of  the 
streets.  Near  the  caboose,  or  canteen  of  the  third 
class,  I  marked  the  Lombard  singers  chatting  and 
laughing  with  theatrical  ease  in  the  midst  of  a  group 


'TOlomen  stoofc  about  wttb  tbefr  infants  in  tbeir  arme  as  at 
tbe  corners  of  tbe  streets." 


<S>n  Blue  Mater, 

of  young  Switzers.  These  all  wore,  probably  with 
some  political  idea,  caps  of  red  cloth,  and  made 
good  with  a  pantomine,  perhaps  a  little  too  ex- 
pressive, their  lack  of  the  needed  phrases.  I  met 
the  handsome  Boloimese  walking  all  alone,  with  her 

O  ~  ' 

prima-donna  stride,  the  cynosure  of  many  glances ; 
her  inseparable  satchel  at  her  side,  and  looking  down 
at  every  moment  with  a  grimace  of  disgust  lest  she 
should  soil  her  shoes.  The  deck  was,  in  fact,  strewn 
with  bits  of  paper,  with  apple  parings,  crumbs  of 
biscuit,  all  sorts  of  things,  and  looked  as  if  a 
regiment  had  been  bivouacking  there.  In  general, 
too,  the  faces  and  the  clothes  of  the  soldiers  agreed 
w^ell  enough  with  the  condition  of  the  place.  Many 
countenances  indeed  had  on  them  the  dirt  of  sailing 
day.  But  I  did  not  blame  them  so  much  when 
I  remembered  that  while  German  emigrants  at 
Bremen,  before  going  on  board,  have  good  shelter  and 
a  bath  to  refresh  them  from  their  land  travel,  ours 
at  Genoa  sleep  on  the  sidewalks. 

I  moved  on  towards  the  water-tanks.  The  fair 
Genoese  was  there  in  her  white  jacket  and  her  blue 
petticoat,  between  her  father  and  her  little  brother, 
clean  and  fresh  as  a  flower,  and  busily  sewing.  But 
the  crowd  of  her  admirers  had  grown  thicker.  She 
had  around  her  at  different  distances  perhaps  a 
dozen  passengers  who  never  took  their  eyes  off  her ; 
jesting  and  whispering  in  one  another's  ears  with  a 
kind  of  grin  and  a  look  in  their  eyes  which  left  but 


Xcves  anfc  Grievances. 


89 


little  doubt  about  the  character  of  their  admiration. 
Others  came  up,  stood  on  tiptoe  to  look  at  her,  and 
then  went  away.  She  was  famous  already,  and  was 
beyond  all  doubt  to  be  the  great  success  of  the 
voyage  in  the  society  of  the  fore-deck.  But  celebrity 
had  not  changed  her  ;  no,  not  in  the  least.  From 
time  to  time  she 
raised  those 
quiet  blue  eyes, 
as  if  she  had 
trees  around 
her  instead  of 
men,  and  then 
dropped  them 
once  more  upon 
her  work,  un- 
consciously, as 
she  bent  her 
head,  display- 
ing to  all  those 

O 

eager  looks  her 
white  neck  and 
the  maimificent 

O 

folds  of  her  golden 
hair.      Ah,     poor 

third-claSS  kitchen  !      I  looked      "  Dig  eses  fir«*,  bis  forebeaa 

at  its  window  and  saw  the  red 

face  of  the  cook,  his  eyes  fixed,  his  forehead  wrinkled. 

Beyond  all  doubt  there  was  a  passion  flaming  up 


90  <§>n  Blue  Mater. 

among  the  saucepans  too.  The  public  health  was  in 
danger.  As  I  looked  at  him  I  saw  his  glance  as  it 
turned  from  the  girl  take  a  fierce  expression,  and  fol- 
lowing it  my  eye  fell  upon  a  figure  in  the  circle  of 
admirers  that  fixed  my  attention  in  a  new  quarter. 
It  was  a  youth  less  than  twenty  years  old,  beardless 
and  starved-looking ;  his  poor  wretched  shoulders 
like  coat-pegs ;  a  sort  of  cross,  it  appeared,  between 
the  village  schoolmaster  and  the  bookkeeper;  the 
kind  of  person  that  goes  to  America  "to  get 
something  to  do."  Seated  on  a  barrel-head,  he  kept 
his  look  fastened  on  the  girl  with  a  passion  so 
ardent  and  so  humble  that  it  might  have  extorted  a 
glance  of  compassion  from  a  woman  of  marble.  He 
seemed  to  be  alone  on  board,  and  carried  around  his 
body  a  belt  of  yellow  leather  which  probably  con- 
tained his  whole  peculium.  I  looked  at  him  for 
some  time,  and  all  the  while  those  eyes  were  moist 
and  moveless,  with  a  faint  sad  smile  in  them  as  of 
pity  for  himself;  the  whole  body  quite  still,  like  one 
who  is  content  to  adore,  who  expects  nothing,  hopes 
nothing,  and  is  there  for  life.  All  this  time  the 
girl  did  not  seem  aware  of  his  presence.  He 
languished  there  all  alone  like  a  Stylites  on  his 
column ;  and  the  warmth  of  his  poor  unregarded 
flame  was  lost  in  space  like  the  smoke  from  the 
Galileo's  funnels. 

I  next  repaired  to  the  forecastle  which  was  full  of 
people.      As  I  went  up  I  heard  alongside  of  me, 


%ox>es  ant>  Grievances.  91 

"Yes,  they  make  this  their  theatre  !  " — Gia,  vegnen 
cM  al  teater.  This  vegnen  was  meant  for  me,  of 
course.  I  was  received  here  worse  than  in  the  other 
place.  I  met  with  furious  glances  and  turned  backs. 
Nor  this  alone.  Sub  terris  tonuisse  putes.  It  oc- 
curred to  me,  and  I  was  not  wrong,  that  the  place 
was  a  kind  of  Mountain  where  all  the  emigrants  with 
revolutionary  ideas,  all  those  who  had  to  go  into  a 
corner  to  hold  dangerous  talk,  came  together;  and 
where  all  the  protests  against  bad  food,  and  all  the 
plottings  against  rules  and  regulations  were  to  have 
origin.  There  were  bold  dark  faces ;  and  the  general 
air  of  the  men  was  that  of  the  bravo  in  repose.  They 
seemed  to  be  all  single  men,  or  such  as  had  left  their 
wives  behind  them  after  two  or  three  years  of  mar- 
riage (these  last  a  long  list)  either  because  they  are 
driven  to  emigrate  by  the  needs  of  an  increasing 
family  or  because,  having  tried  married  life  and 
found  it  a  bore,  they  wished  to  get  out  of  it  this  way. 
In  one  group  I  found  the  tall  old  man  who  had 
shaken  his  fist  at  his  country  the  evening  of  our  de- 
parture ;  the  very  type  of  a  dried-up  adventurer,  with 
fiery  eyes,  with  cords  in  his  neck  that  looked  ready 
to  burst  the  skin,  and  wearing  a  green  jacket  that 
seemed  to  have  belonged  to  some  actor.  His  head 
was  bare,  his  gray  locks  free.  He  spoke  loudly  with 
a  Tuscan  accent,  and  gesticulated  with  raised  fore- 
finger. I  heard  as  I  walked  about  the  word  pagnot- 
tisti,  and  caught,  flying,  a  furious  look  that  made  me 


Blue  Mater. 


think  it  would  be  as  well  to  move  on.  Near  the 
capstan  a  little  fellow  was  playing  on  his  pipe,  but 
the  wind  carried  the  sound  away  and  no  one  took 
heed.  Some  were  seated  on  the 
deck,  at  cards.  Right  forward,  on 
^e  Cljt- water,  stood  a  queer 
figure  of  a  mountebank  with  a 

O 

long,    bony,   olive-colored   face 
lighted  up  by  two  large  green 
eyes,  his  black  hair  falling  over 
his    shoulders,    his    bare    arms 
folded  on  his  breast,  and  having 
tattooed   on   one  of   them   the 
initials,  A.  S.,  with  a  cross. 
Thus  upright  and  gloomy  in 
his    loneliness,    now    borne 
aloft,  now  sinking  with  the 

'  O 

movement  of  the  vessel  as  if 
dancing  in  the  air,  he  seemed 
the  personified  idea  of  all  the 
misery  brought  together  on 
that  deck ;  the  living  symbol 
of  the  vagabond  and  uncer- 

O 

tain  destiny  of  every  one  around.  There  was  but 
one  woman  up  there,  an  old  woman  seated  on  a 
timber-head,  beside  her  husband,  likewise  old  ;  both 
with  arms  crossed  upon  their  knees  and  their  heads 
upon  their  arms,  so  that  their  faces  were  not  seen  ; 
nothing  but  the  thin  irrnv  hair;  and  their  necks, 

O  3         « 


f 


"  t\o  one  tool: 


bee&." 


%ov>es  anfc  Orievances.  93 

whose  wrinkles  showed  them  to  be  past  seventy, 
were  stretched  out  in  an  attitude  of  utter  aban- 
donment and  mortal  weariness.  What  were  they 
going  to  do  in  America  ?  Perhaps  join  their  chil- 
dren. I  saw  nothing  on  board  more  pitiful  than 
these  two  poor,  old,  broken-down  creatures,  almost 
in  the  grasp  of  death  already,  and  yet  going  out 
to  a  land  where  their  future  must  be  a  bitter 
struggle.  I  bent  over  them.  They  were  asleep.  A 
short  distance  off,  upright  against  the  bulwark, 
cowled  and  solitary,  stood  the  friar  who  was  going 
to  Terra  del  Fuego,  a  face  as  of  wax,  with  eyes  va- 
cant, expressionless. 

Coming  down  from  the  forecastle  I  met  the  sur- 
geon, a  Neapolitan,  the  very  image  of  Giovanni 
Nicotera,  but  with  different  eyes  and  a  different  air; 
vacant,  stolid, — a  not  unusual  case  of  physical  like- 
ness between  persons  of  opposite  natures.  I  went 
with  him  to  the  sick  bay,  a  large  oblong  apartment 
lighted  from  above,  with  two  tiers  of  bunks  round 
about.  There  was  a  child  here  ill  of  the  measles, 
flushed  and  feverish,  a  love  of  a  boy  with  bright 
curly  hair.  Standing  near  him  was  a  peasant  wo- 
man from  the  neighborhood  of  Naples,  a  fine,  hand- 
some woman,  who,  as  soon  as  she  saw  the  doctor, 
began  to  weep,  choking  her  sobs  with  her  hands. 
The  doctor  examined  the  child  and  then  said,  in  a 
reproving  tone:  "The  '"Iness  must  run  its  course; 
there  is  nothing  to  fear.  Put  that  foolish  notion  out 


94  ©n  Blue  Mater. 

of  your  head."  He  then  explained  to  me  that  some 
silly  women  had  upset  her  by  saying  that  if  anything 
happened  to  the  child  it  would  be  thrown  over- 
board into  the  sea ;  and  she  was  in  despair.  Then 
turning  another  way  and  speaking  loudly  he  asked, 
"  And  how  is  it  with  you  ? "  Presently  I  saw 

V  +/ 

thrust  out  of  a  low  berth  the  head  of  a  sickly 
old  man  who,  in  spite  of  the  doctor,  persisted  in 
putting  forth  his  legs  and  sitting  on  the  edge  of  the 
bunk.  He  had  his  clothes  on.  He  answered  in  a 
thin  voice,  "Pretty  well "  (Non  c?e  tanto  male).  The 
doctor  examined  him  and  shook  his  head.  The  man 
was  suffering  from  a  bad  pleurisy,  and  had  taken  to 
his  bed  the  day  after  we  left.  He  was  a  peasant 
from  Pinerola,  all  alone,  and  was  going  to  the  Argen- 
tine to  join  his  son.  I  asked  him  in  what  part  of 
the  Argentine  his  son  was.  He  did  not  know.  His 

O 

younger  son  had  gone  thither  three  years  before, 
leaving  him  at  home  with  the  other  brother,  and 
this  one  had  lately  died.  Then  the  younger  son  had 
written  him  to  come  out  and  had  sent  a  buo?w  for 
the  trip,  but  without  giving  a  precise  address,  the 
fact  being  that  he  worked  on  the  roads,  and  was 
constantly  changing  quarters.  But  he  had  told  his 
father  how  he  might  be  found.  So  saying  the  poor 
old  man  thrust  his  thin  hand  into  a  breast  pocket  and 
pulled  out  a  handful  of  tattered  greasy  papers  which 
he  began  to  run  over  with  'rembling  fingers.  Just 
then  a  sudden  roll  of  the  ship  threw  his  poor  bald 


Xoves  anfc  (Grievances.  95 

bead  bard  against  tbe  upper  bertb.  He  passed  bis 
baud  over  tbe  place  to  see  if  tbere  were  auy  blood, 
aud  then  turned  once  more  to  his  papers.  There 
were  torn  envelopes,  papers  with  figures,  perhaps  his 
last  accounts  with  his  padrone,  a  receipt,  and  a  little 
almanac.  At  last  he  picked  out  a  crumpled  half- 
sheet  on  which  was  written  in  large  characters,  but 
blotted  with  ink  and  almost  illegible,  tbe  name  of  a 
village  in  the  province  of  Buenos  Ayres  in  which,  at 
such  a  number  of  such  and  such  a  street,  he  would 
find  shelter  with  a  Piedmontese  family.  Hither 
would  come  within  the  month  & pabriotta,  a  comrade 
of  his  son,  who  would  take  him  to  his  Carlo.  With 
such  a  direction  as  this,  old,  sick,  and  ignorant,  he  had 
set  out  for  America.  "  I  greatly  fear,"  said  the  doc- 
tor, as  we  went  out,  "  that  he  has  set  out  too  late." 

And  then  I  must  go  with  him  to  see  the  "  man- 
ger." In  a  little  corner  in  the  forward  part  of  the 
ship,  between  a  turkey  coop  and  a  huge  hogshead 
shoved  up  against  the  side,  about  large  enough  to 
hold  a  sack  of  coals,  a  family  of  five  persons  had 
made  their  lair,  passing  the  day  jammed  in  against 
each  other  and  against  the  walls  so  as  to  look  as  if 
they  had  only  gone  in  there  for  fun.  It  was  a  family 
of  peasants  from  the  neighborhood  of  Mestre.  Hus- 
band and  wife,  both  still  young, — she  enceinte, — two 
boys — twins — six  years  old,  aud  a  girl  of  about  nine, 
with  her  head  bandaged.  She  was  in  front,  knitting, 
and  the  blond  urchins  were  imprisoned  between  the 


96 


©n  Blue  Water. 


knees  of  the  father,  who  was  smoking,  with  his  back 
against  the  side  of  the  ship,  and  holding  out  his  arm 
to  the  wife,  who  was  mending  his  sleeve.  Poor  but 
clean,  with  faces  that  wore  a  certain  air  of  serene 


I 


bis  sleeve. 


resignation.  As  the  doctor  approached,  the  man 
rose  up  smiling,  and  said  the  "wench"  was  better; 
she  had  got  a  cut  from  falling  down  the  cabin  stairs 
a  day  or  two  before.  "  And  how  about  the  kitchen  ?" 
the  doctor  asked.  The  peasant  with  several  others 
went  to  the  kitchen  every  day  to  peel  potatoes  and 
shell  beans  for  the  second  cooks,  who  paid  them  with 
a  glass  or  so  of  wine.  "  All  right,"  he  answered,  "at 


anfc  (Briexmnces.  97 

all  events  we  get  a  drop  of  wine.  But  that  capo 
cogo  (head  cook)  is  a  queer  fellow."  On  being 
asked,  the  peasant  told  his  story.  An  uncle  had  left 
him  a  bit  of  land,  enough  to  live  on  or  nearly,  if  he 
worked  like  two.  Ma  co  no  glie  xefortuna, — "  When 
a  man  has  no  luck,  everything  goes  wrong  its  own 
way."  There  was  a  little  mortgage  on  the  land,  and 
then  one  hundred  and  ten  lire  of  taxes ;  two  bad 
years  to  begin  with  ;  in  short  he  had  worked  himself 
nearly  to  death  for  five  years  and  had  done  no  good. 
And  what  if  the  wife  did  work  fit  to  kill  herself  just 
like  a  man,  there  were  five  mouths  and  only  two  pair 
of  hands.  To  be  wearing  out  his  life  in  this  way,  to 
be  always  in  debt,  to  eat  polenta  and  nothing  but 
polenta,  and  to  have  his  children  starve  day  by  day 
before  his  eyes, — this  could  not  go  on.  Then  the  girl 
fell  ill  for  a  Ions;  time,  and  at  last  one  of  his  cows  was 

o 

killed  by  lightning.  That  settled  it.  He  had  sold 
everything,  and  was  going  to  try  whether  he  could 
not  screw  out  some  kind  of  a  living  in  America. 
Good- will  and  courage  were  not  lacking.  Ma  co  no 
glie  xv  for  tuna.  Then  he  eagerly  went  on,  "  Salude 
putei,  die  vien  la  parongina" — Make  your  bow,  chil- 
dren, here  conies  the  young  lady.  And  greatly  was 
I  surprised  to  see,  coming  along  through  the  throngs 
on  deck,  the  lady  with  the  black  cross,  in  her  dress 
of  sea  green,  leaning  on  the  arm  of  her  companion, 
paler  and  more  feeble  than  I  had  ever  seen  her.  *She 
approached  the  family,  asked  about  the  girl  in  Ven- 


98  ©n  Blue  Mater, 

etian  dialect,  and  put  her  hand  on  the  heads  of  the 
twins ;  then  taking  out  a  little  parcel,  probably  of 
sweetmeats  or  fruit,  she  gave  it  to  them  with  a  cer- 
tain worn  invalid  grace  that  was  infinitely  touching. 
Meanwhile  the  doctor  took  me  aside  and  told  me  she 
was  also  from  Mestre,  that  she  had  recognized  that 
family  of  peasants  on  the  .day  of  sailing  as  they  were 
going  on  board.  She  was  the  daughter  of  an  engin- 
eer, a  widower,  who  had  been  for  two  years  in 
charge  of  certain  railway  work  in  the  interior  of 
Uraguay,  and  she  was  going  out  with  an  aunt,  who 
was  only  one  year  older  than  herself,  to  see  her  father 
"  once  more."  I  was  in  the  act  of  asking  what  the 
last  phrase  meant,  when  the  young  lady  coughed, 
and  I  had  no  need  to  finish  the  sentence.  It  hap- 
pened, too,  that  the  doctor  pointed  out  to  me  a 
woman  sitting  near  by  all  alone,  and  looking  at  the 
family  with  glassy,  almost  despairing  eyes,  in  which 
there  appeared  a  glimmer  of  envy  and  the  undying 
memory  of  a  lost  affection.  She,  too,  was  Venetian, 
and  was  going  to  join  her  brother  at  Rosario,  be- 
cause, two  months  before,  her  husband  had  been 
stabbed  in  a  quarrel. 

And  all  this  misery  is  Italian,  I  thought  as  I  re- 
turned to  the  after-deck.  And  every  ship  that  goes 
out  of  Genoa  is  full  of  it,  and  they  are  going  out  of 
Naples  and  Messina  and  Venice  and  Marseilles  every 
we*k  throughout  the  year,  and  so  have  been  doing 
these  ten  years.  And  these  Galileo  emigrants,  as  far 


Xoves  an&  Grievances.  99 

as  the  voyage  went,  at  all  events,  might  well  be 
called  fortunate  in  comparison  with  many  who  in 
previous  years  were,  from  lack  of  room  in  the  hold, 
littered  down  on  deck  like  beasts,  living  there  for 
weeks,  drenched  with  water  and  suffering  deadly 
cold  ;  or  with  others  who  had  nearly  perished  of 
hunger  and  thirst  in  ships  half-provisioned,  or  almost 
died  of  poisonous  fish  and  putrid  water, — and  many 
did  die.  And  I  thought  of  many  others,  again,  who, 
shipped  off  for  America  by  rascally  agents,  had  been 
treacherously  landed  in  a  port  of  Europe,  where  they 
were  forced  to  beg  their  bread  ;  or,  who,  having  paid 
for  their  passage  in  a  steamer,  had  been  put  on  board 
a  sailing  vessel  and  kept  six  months  at  sea ;  or,  who, 
supposing  they  were  to  go  to  the  Plata  River,  where 
friends  and  relatives  awaited  them,  had  been  put 
ashore  on  the  coast  of  Brazil  to  be  decimated  by  the 
tropical  heat  and  the  yellow  fever.  And  thinking 
of  all  this  foul  crime  and  of  the  thousands  of  my 
fellow-citizens  who  in  foreign  cities  keep  body  and 
soul  together  by  the  most  degrading  drudgery,  and 
of  the  bands  of  starving  street  performers  whom  we 
send  out  to  the  four  winds,  and  of  the  hideous  traffic 
in  children,  and  of  many  other  things,  I  bitterly  en- 
vied those  who  can  go  about  the  world  and  not  find 
at  every  turn  those  of  their  own  blood  in  wretched- 
ness and  sorrow. 

But  to  sweeten  all  this  bitterness,  a  kind  Provi- 
dence had  sent  on   board   two  French  commercial 


ioo  ©n  Blue  Mater, 

travellers.  One  was  a  Parisian,  a  good  fellow  enough 
though  somewhat  loose  in  talk,  but,  alas  !  with  a  face 
on  him  which  I  seemed  to  have  seen  before  in  one  of 
Darwin's  illustrated  works  at  the  head  of  a  chapter 
on  apes.  The  other  I  have  spoken  of  already,  a 
Marsigliese,  fifty  years  old,  with  a  Patagonian  bust 
and  short  legs,  one  of  which  was  crooked  and  trail- 
ing. He  had  a  face  like  a  bloated  Napoleon  I., 
and  he  was  so  grave  that  the  nonsensical  things  he 
continually  said  seemed  doubly  ridiculous.  He  pre- 
tended to  be  commercial  correspondent  of  the  Jour- 
nal des  Debats,  though  no  one  believed  it,  and  he 
bragged  a  good  deal  about  literature,  citing  on  all 
occasions  one  and  the  same  book,  which  was  his 
gospel,  and  of  which  he  had  most  certainly  read 
nothing  but  the  title,  the  Dictionary  of  Littre,  "  uti 
ouvrage  qui  restera  dans  les  siecles"  Moreover,  he 
boasted  of  knowing  Italy  thoroughly,  and  spoke 
Italian  in  a  way  to  frighten  the  sharks.  But  the 
funniest  part  of  it  all  was  that,  having  enjoyed  in 
Italy,  us  well  appeared  from  his  talk,  nothing  but 
street-corner  conquests,  he  harangued,  ex  cathedra, 
about  the  fair  sex,  making  a  hundred  nice  distinc- 
tions, a  la  Stendhal,  between  the  ladies  of  one  great 
Italian  city  and  another,  as  if  he  had  made  study  of 
the  flower  of  our  aristocracy  in  the  capacity  of 
French  ambassador.  And  then  he  had  a  way  of  ar- 
guing about  all  sorts  of  things,  a  way  common 
enough  among  the  lower  French  bourgeois  class,  by 


%o\>es  anfc  Grievances.  101 

subterfuges  and  set  phrases,  of  which  the  following 
plea  may  be  taken  as  a  fair  sample,  brought  up  by 
him  against  one  of  the  Argentines,  who  declared  that 
beer  was  hurtful.  "  J^ai  assists  a  Tenterrement  de 
bien  des  gens  qui  rien  buvaient  pas"  But  his  forte 
was  gallant  adventures,  which  he  recounted  half- 

o  ' 

boastfully,  half -comically,  with  actor's  gesticulation, 
standing  up,  and  always  making  a  wave  with  his 
fingers  and  a  pirouette  on  one  heel,  to  come  round 
aojain  and  face  his  hearers  with  "  Et  voila  !  "  like  a 

o 

juggler  asking  for  applause. 

That  very  morning  lie  and  his  colleague,  who  sat 
over  against  him  at  table,  enlivened  us  all  with  a 

O 

discussion,  begun  I  do  not  know  how,  about  the  cost 
of  a  respectable  dinner  at  one  of  the  so-called  mar- 
cliands  de  vin.  After  a  few  words,  the  attention  of 
the  company  having  piqued  the  vanity  of  both,  the 
Parisian  allowed  himself  to  remark  in  a  sympathizing 
tone  that  his  interlocutor  did  not  know  Paris.  The 
Marsigliese  flew  out  like  a  shot,  "tTaifait  vingt- 
cinq  voyages  a  Paris,  monsieur  !  "  — "  Et  moi"  an- 
swered the  other,  rising  in  the  midst  of  a  general 
silence, — "je  Vhdbite? 

But  the  look,  the  accent,  and  the  gesture  were  so 
solemn  as  to  provoke  a  loud  laugh  which  almost 
drowned  the  rejoinder  of  the  enraged  Marsigliese : 
"  Vous  prenez  la  chose  sur  un  ton  .  .  .  JVous 
nous  moquons  pas  mat  de  Paris  .  .  .  Thiersqui 
a  sauve  deux fois  la  France"  . 


3Blue  Water, 

But  the  other  was  so  happy  in  the  triumph  of  his 

moije  VJiabite  that  he  said  no  more,  but  turned  to  his 

neighbors  with  some  words,  among  which  I  caught 

".     .     .     Tliiers,  une  vilaine  figure 

On  which  we  all  rose  from  table,  still 

This  clay,  the  weather  being  most  charming,  all  the 

beau  nionde  was  on  deck  a  couple  of  hours  before 

dinner  except  the  Argentines,  who  at  that  time  were 

in  the  habit  of  having  a  kind  of  national  luncheon 

O 

upon  their  delicious  preserved  meats,  a  provision 
of  which  they  had  on  board  with  them.  The  deck 
looked  like  the  terrace  of  a  vast  bathing  establish- 
ment. Some  of  the  passengers  were  lolling  on  the 
benches,  turning  over  the  leaves  of  Charpentier's  yel- 
low literature  ;  many  were  promenading  two  and  two. 
The  old  Chilean  walked  up  and  down  with  the  Nea- 
politan priest,  who  was  shaking  his  long  flesh-hooks 
in  the  air  as  if  to  catch  bank-notes  flying,  and  every 
time  that  he  passed  near  me  I  heard  some  of  his 
phrases  :  "  Yo  creo  que  con  un  capital  de  docientos  mil 
pataconse.  .  .  .  Vea  Usted  la  vendida  de  las  cedillas 
Jiipotecarias  provinciates.  ..."  Beyond,  and  near 
the  wheel  the  white  robes  of  the  blonde  lady  were 
seen.  She  had  a  blue  ribbon  in  her  hair  and  was 
leaning  over  the  bulwark  beside  the  beardless  young 
Tuscan  and  it  was  plain  that  they  were  talking  of 
commonplace  matters, —  of  the  sea, — of  America; 
but  though  they  did  not  look  at  each  other  it  was  no 
less  plain,  from  a  slight  but  constant  smile  which 


%o\>es  anfc  (Brievmnces.  103 

trembled  on  the  lips  of  both,  that  this  was  only  the 
exterior  accompaniment  of  an  inward  and  exceed- 
ingly harmonious  duet. 

Looking  around  for  the  husband  I  descried  him  on 
the  piazzetta  below,  deeply  attentive  to  the  dis- 
course of  one  of  the  officers  who  was  explaining 
the  sextant.  On  one  of  the  long  benches  about 
midway  was  the  young  lady  from  Mestre  with 
her  aunt.  I  observed  the  latter  closely  for  the  first 
time.  She  was  a  specimen,  not  altogether  rare,  of  a 
freak  of  nature  which  had  enclosed  a  woman's 
soul  in  a  man's  body — broad,  bony  face — large  hands 
— deep  voice.  All  the  womanhood  of  the  poor  girl 
was  brought  together  into  the  eyes.  These  were 
small,  gray,  full  of  kindness  and  sweetness;  and 
from  their  expression  it  was  plain  that  she  felt  the 
disagreeable  want  of  harmony  between  her  body  and 
her  spirit ;  that  she  was  resigned  to  her  fate  of  being 
unpleasing;  that  she  tried  to  keep  apart  from  one 
sex  as  from  the  other,  and  sought  in  every  way  to 
pass  unnoticed.  But  that  timid  resignation  and  the 
shade  of  something  almost  like  shame  that  veiled  her 
eyes  inspired  a  sentiment  of  mingled  sympathy  and 
pity  which  made  her  sometimes  seem  quite  different 
from  what  she  was.  All  at  once  and  with  much  sur- 
prise I  saw  the  Garibaldian  come  and  take  a  seat  be- 
side the  niece.  He  bowed  respectfully  but  with  an 
air  that  bespoke  a  several  days'  acquaintance.  It  was 
the  first  time  I  had  seen  him  in  conversation  with  a 


104 


Blue  Mater. 


human  soul.  How  could  they  have  become  ac- 
quainted ?  The  young  lady  spoke  from  time  to  time, 
regarding  the  horizon  with  her  clear,  quiet  glance, 
he  listening  with  an  air  of  respectful  deference,  his 


eyes  fixed 

Upon  the  deck.       I      " listening  witb  an  air  of  respectful  inference." 

imagined  that  from 

D 

that  first  moment  the  soft  breath  which  came  from 
those  pallid  lips  might  be  calling  back  to  life  in  the 
man's  soul  many  feelings  that  were  dead  and  buried  ; 
but  no  sign  of  it  appeared  upon  his  face,  immovable 


%o\>es  ant>  Grievances.  105 

and  stern  in  spite  of  its  respectful  expression.  The 
lady  of  the  stateroom  next  to  mine  was  sitting  at 
the  other  end  of  the  bench,  dressed  too  much  for  a 
steamer's  deck,  and  reading ;  but  the  unquiet  move- 
ment of  her  flat  little  foot  showed  that  her  thoughts 

O 

were  not  on  the  page.  The  encounter  of  that  morn- 
ing, however,  had  not  chased  from  her  lips  their  usual 
nervous  smile,  a  smile  that  bespoke  an  indomitable 
power  in  domestic  strife,  a  power  of  stabbing  the 
heart  or  the  brain  of  a  husband  with  pin-pricks  for 
thirty  years  running.  What  could  there  be  to 
separate  them  thus  ?  A  carnal  aversion  like  that  of 
the  married  couple  in  Germinal!1  No  fault  that  I 
could  imagine  on  the  part  of  either  was  a  cause  suf- 
ficient to  account  for  the  loathing  there  was  between 

O 

them ;  for  the  husband,  who  did  not  look  like  a 
villain,  would  have  forgiven  her ;  and  she  did  not 
seem  one  of  those  delicate  souls  that  carry  all  their 
lives  the  unclosing  scar  of  a  treacherous  wound.  And 

o 

yet  I  would  have  sworn  that  these  two  creatures 
could  never  more  be  reconciled  and  that  the  way  they 

were  in  was  leading  them  to  crime. 

~ 

But  what  most  drew  my  attention  among  all  these 
people  was  the  Brazilian  family :  husband  and  wife, 
with  three  growing  children  and  one  infant  at  the 
breast, carried  in  arms  by  a  negress  short  of  stature  and 
with  a  bosom  like  a  Hottentot ;  all  close  together  on  a 

O 

settee  near  the  mizzen-mast,  quite  silent,  like  statues, 
and  rolling  their  large  black  eyes  around  upon  the 


io6  ©n  Blue  Mater. 

passers  by  as  if  all  moved  by  one  string.  The  father 
and  the  mother  sat  close  together,  as  if  each  jealous  of 
the  other,  and  had  the  air  of  being  rich.  Perhaps  they 
had  become  uncivilized  in  the  solitude  of  one  of  those 
fazenda,s  in  the  interior  of  Brazil,  swarming  with 
negro  slaves,  surrounded  by  boundless  fields  of  sugar 

o  v  o 

or  of  coffee,  and  only  to  be  reached  through  dense 
forests  by  many  long  days  of  journeying.  On  the 
bench  opposite  to  them,  with  her  back  to  the  sea,  and 
doing  fancy  work,  sat  the  young  lady  pianist.  I 
could  not  but  remark  how  deftly  she  handled  the 
little  scissors,  and  note  the  exquisite  art  with  which 
she  managed  to  get  a  good  long  look  at  everybody, 
yet  without  displaying  the  smallest  curiosity  and 
without  allowing  anyone  to  catch  her  eye.  Her 
mother,  meanwhile,  was  talking  with  the  agent,  who 
was  standing  in  front  of  her;  and,  from  the  smile  he 
wore,  it  was  plain  that  she  was  pulling  to  pieces  with 
delicate  ferocity  one  or  more  of  the  company.  A 
bright  flash  of  envy  which  came  into  her  eye  an- 
nounced the  appearance  of  the  Argentine  lady,  who 
had  not  been  seen  for  two  days.  She  came  along, 
simply  and  elegantly  dressed  and  leaning  on  the  arm 
of  her  husband,  with  the  step  and  the  smile  of  a 
convalescent  who  did  not  try  to  conceal  the  pleasure 
she  took  in  being  looked  at  by  all.  She  was  indeed 
a  noble  specimen  of  the  rich  beauty  of  Creole  blood. 
Hair  and  eyes  of  the  blackest,  these  veiled  by  long 
lashes;  complexion  dark  and  warm,  and  of  marvel- 


%ox>es  ant)  Grievances.  107 

lous  freshness.  Her  walk,  undulating  and  most 
graceful,  set  off  the  lovely  fulness  of  her  person. 
And  in  that  walk,  that  look,  that  bearing,  shone  out 
the  gay  haughtiness  of  the  porteTia  to  whom  is  con- 
ceded the  first  place  among  the  beauties  of  Latin 
America,  the  bold  self-reliance  of  the  woman  born 
amid  surroundings  of  struggle  and  adventure,  a  so- 
ciety which  respects  her  for  herself  alone,  and  which 
educates  her  from  a  child  to  be  ready  for  any  change 
of  fortune.  Slowly,  and  with  the  easy,  smiling  grace 
of  the  hostess  she  made  the  round  of  the  deck  as  if 
it  were  a  ball-room,  and  then  sat  down  near  the  com- 
pass,— the  real  one,  which,  luckily  for  us  all,  she 
could  not  interfere  with  as  she  could  with  ours.1 

Meanwhile  the  groups  were  breaking  up  and  form- 
ing again,  so  that  I  found  myself  for  a  moment  near 
the  monoculous  Genoese,  whose  face  wore  its  usual 
expression  of  infinite  boredom,  lighted  up  from  time 
to  time  with  thought  of  food,  as  a  stagnant  pool  by 
a  ray  of  sun.  I  asked  what  he  thought  of  the  cui- 
sine on  board  the  Galileo.  He  shook  his  head  and 
considered  a  moment ;  then,  in  the  tone  in  which  he 
would  have  pronounced  that  Russia  was  abusing  the 
forbearance  of  Europe,  he  answered  :  "  Look  here  !  I 
am  a  candid  man.  We  get  more  brown  sauces  than  is 
exactly  fair, — in  my  opinion,  at  least."  And  yet  he 
had  a  respect  for  the  cook,  who  had  been  at  the  Hotel 
Feder — very  strong  on  sweet  dishes — two  hundred 

1  Fur  perdere  la  bussola  a  qualcheduno, — "  To  turn  his  head." 


io8  ©n  Blue  Mater, 

and  fifty  lire  per  month,  and  a  handsome  man.  He 
offered  to  present  me,  but  I  put  off  the  introduction 
until  another  time.  "Exactly!"  he  said,  pulling 
out  his  watch,  "  I  must  go  and  take  a  look.  We 
were  to  have  liver  pie  to-day."  And  he  made  way 
for  the  haliphobous  advocate  who  was  passing  at  the 
moment,  his  face  twisted  as  usual.  This  gentleman 
stopped  for  an  instant  to  listen  to  the  Marsigliese 
who  was  singing  the  praises  of  the  sea  in  the  usual 
stock  phrases  :  Mais  regardez  done  !  Est  ce  beau  ! 
Est  ce  imposant  !  Est  ce  grand  !  J\idore  la  mer, 
moi !  The  advocate  shrilled  his  shoulders  wTith  a 

OO 

vexed  air,  as  who  should  say :  The  sea,  beautiful  ! 
That 's  a  strange  notion.  People  when  they  are  all 
comfortable  think  everything  beautiful,  like  so  many 
cretins,  drivellers.  Mountains  beautiful,  plains  beau- 
tiful. The  sky  beautiful  when  it  is  clear,  beautiful  in 
storms, —  lovely  where  there  is  vegetation,  lovely 
where  there  is  none.  Asses !  To  me  the  sea  seems  like 
a  great  puddle,  nothing  more.  "  Ah  !  what  now  ? "  he 
said,  looking  uneasily  around  as  the  screw  gave  a 
bang  rather  more  violent  than  usual.  But  the  queer 
part  of  it  was  that  while  he  was  talking  of  the  sea 
he  never  looked  at  it.  The  most  that  he  did  was  to 
send  a  glance  around  which  rapidly  swept  the  outline 
of  the  ship ;  just  as  a  nervous  soldier  casts  a  glance 
towards  the  enemy  which  is  advancing  towards  the 
fort.  "  Never  mind,"  I  said,  "  we  have  a  smooth 
sea."  "  Ah  ! "  he  said,  "  I  dare  say ;  a  smooth  sea, 


0riex>ance6.  109 

no  doubt ;  and  in  less  than  an  hour  we  may  all  be  on 
our  knees  expecting  death." 

At  this  juncture  along  came  the  agent  to  announce 
a  discovery.  That  plump  lady  with  the  red  face  sit- 
ting there  near  by,  who  was  always  so  cross  in  the 
morning  and  so  jolly  in  the  evening.  The  mystery  was 
cleared  up.  She  drank  like  a  fish.  She  was  said  to  be 
a  beast-tamer  and  had  her  preserves  in  Chili.  Posi- 
tively, she  had  in  her  stateroom  liqueurs  of  every  color 
and  of  every  country,  which  she  kept  sipping  all  the 
time  from  noon  on,  out  of  a  collection  of  little  glasses 

O 

which  she  had  had  made  on  purpose — darling  little 
bits  of  glass  work — with  which  she  tried  to  deceive 
herself  about  her  weakness.  He  had  heard  it  all  from 
the  mother  of  the  pianist.  The  lady  and  her  maid 
got  half-seas-over  regularly  every  evening,  and  when 
they  were  properly  primed  would  talk  with  any- 
body, saying  whatever  came  into  their  heads.  When 
we  got  into  the  warm  regions  we  should  hear  more 
of  them.  The  lady  was  at  that  moment  talking 
with  a  tall  passenger  whom  I  had  not  yet  particu- 
larly remarked,  a  veteran  globe-trotter,  who  had  on 
the  nape  of  his  neck  a  long  red  mark.  And  there 
were  stories  about  him  too.  He  was  said  to  be  an 
old  sea-captain,  a  regular  beast,  and  that  red  streak 
was  the  mark  of  an  attempt  by  his  sailors  to  hang 
him  on  the  high  seas  many  years  before.  We  all 
burst  out  laughing,  at  which  the  "scape-gallows" 
looked  round.  The  name  stuck  to  him.  And  there 


no  <S>n  Blue  Mater. 

were  other  nicknames  going.  One  passenger,  who 
did  not  talk  with  anyone,  his  nose  like  a  beak,  and 
his  ears  like  handles  to  a  head  of  the  uomo  delin- 
quents of  Lombroso,  was  called  the  "  fire-bug."  The 
Frenchman  of  the  Figaro  was  called  the  "  thief,"  no 
less.  And  another,  I  have  no  idea  why,  received  the 
title  of  "  Director  of  the  Society-for-no-more-bad- 
smelling-cesspools."  On  the  first  occasion,  however, 
all  these  people  made  acquaintance  and  shook  hands 
like  good  friends.  "  Stop  ! "  said  the  agent,  all  of  a 
sudden.  "  I  don't  see  the  Swiss  lady  and  the  young 
Tuscan.  I  must  go  below  and  have  a  look."  I  re- 
marked that  what  he  suspected  was  impossible 
because  the  stewardesses  were  about.  "  On  the 
contrary,"  he  said,  "  outposts  to  announce  the  ap- 
proach of  the  enemy  with  an  ahem  ! "  And  away 
he  went.  I  looked  once  more  for  the  professor  and 
saw  him  not  far  off  profoundly  musing  over  the 
magnetic  needle;  and  just  as  the  agent  came  back 
with  the  face  of  a  hunter  who  has  brought  down  his 

O 

game,  he  moved  away,  placidly  remarking,  "  There  is 
a  little  motion."  "  Yes,"  said  the  agent,  "  she  does 
pitch  a  little."  With  these  mild,  friendly  jests  we 
whiled  away  the  hours. 

But  the  true  time  to  enjoy  the  sea  was  towards 
night,  when  the  passengers  had  all  gone  below  save 
two  or  three  lonely  individuals.  At  that  hour,  when 
on  the  yet  faintly  glimmering  western  sky  the  sea 
cut  a  clear  line,  and,  all  black,  as  if  of  pitch,  did  not 


Xoves  anfc  Grievances.  m 

attract  the  eye  at  any  one  point,  it  was  pleasant  to 
yield  oneself  to  that  ebb  and  flow  of  tangled  and 
disconnected  thoughts  which,  keeping  time  to  the 
measured  cadence  of  the  screw,  seem  like  the  passing 
fancies  of  a  dream.  But  the  thoughts  at  that  hour 
take  the  color  of  the  sea.  Compared  with  that 
boundless  spread  of  waters  which  shows  no  trace  of 
man  or  of  time,  the  objects  of  our  voyage,  our  little 
pursuits,  our  own  country,  all  seem  so  confused,  so 
small,  so  wretched,  so  far  off.  And  to  think  that 
three  days  before  leaving  we  were  pained  by  a  cold 
salute  from  an  acquaintance  in  the  Via  Barbaroux. 
How  pitiably  small  a  matter ! 

All  such  things  seem  now  the  records  of  another 
existence,  which  rise  to  view  for  a  moment  and  then 
sink  again  into  that  measureless  abyss  which  is  under 
and  around  us.  And  then  we  let  ourselves  be  carried 
out  over  the  wide  waters  in  an  imaginary  ship,  that 
sails  and  sails  without  rest  beyond  the  farthest  land, 
upon  that  mighty  southern  ocean  wThose  continents 
would,  to  a  micromega,  seem  all  shrunken  and  drawn 
together  into  the  other  hemisphere  as  if  in  dread  of 
solitude.  And  then  the  fancy  is  lost  and  confounded 
in  that  solitude,  and  eagerly  flies  back  among  the 
human  race,  to  creatures  that  are  loved, — to  that  very 
room  where  dear  faces  are  gathered  around  the  lamp 
which  shines  like  a  sun  in  our  inmost  soul.  But 
those  faces  do  not  smile.  On  every  one  of  them 
there  is  the  trace  of  pensive  disquietude,  and  we, 


H2  <§m  Blue  Mater, 

too,  are  saddened  at  the  thought  that  every  turn  of 
the  screw  increases  the  enormous  distance  that  sepa- 
rates us  from  them.  Enormous  distance !  To  re- 
duce it  in  conception  we  think  how  small  the  planet 
is  in  comparison  with  the  universe,  a  drop  of  water 
on  a  lump  of  mud.  How  far  can  the  infusoria  be 
from  each  other?  Useless!  we  must  come  back  to 
the  comparison  of  the  great  earth  with  ourselves, 
and  our  feeling  of  awe  is  born  again  as  strong  as 
ever.  Yes,  an  enormous  distance  separates  us. 

Away,  then,  with  all  these  visions.  Let  us  think 
of  the  sea.  Our  soul  shall  be  lulled  to  slumber 
upon  those  boundless  waters.  How  beautiful !  what 
peace  !  Yet  what  horrors  has  that  solemn  solitude 
beheld  !  It  has  seen  gold-greedy  buccaneers  pass 
over  it,  whetting  their  swords  for  foul  carnage  in 

7  O  O 

the  New  World.  It  has  looked  upon  outbreaks  of 
kidnapped  creatures  wallowing  in  blood  in  the  holds 
of  slave  ships,  long  martyrdoms  of  starving  crews, 
hideous  wrecks  in  the  darkness,  agonized  ravines  of 

'         O  O 

parents  and  children  lashed  to  the  mast,  and  with 
upturned  faces  shrieking  the  name  of  God  as  the 
suffocating  waves  rolled  over  them.  And  this  mis- 
fortune might  happen  to  us  by  the  bursting  of  a 
boiler,  this  very  night,  in  an  hour,  in  a  moment ! 
Shuddering,  we  seem  to  see  the  slow  descent  of  our 
dead  body  from  region  to  region  through  so  many 
different  worlds  of  plants,  of  fish,  of  shells,  of  mol- 
lusks, — a  vertical  of  five  miles, — until  we  reach  the 


Xoves  ant>  Orievaiiccs.  113 

cold  and  utter  darkness  of  that  boundless  stretch  of 
living  ooze  and  of  microscopic  skeletons  that  con- 
stitutes the  bottom  of  the  sea : 

"  The  enigma  of  life 
Murmurs  and  surges  down  there." 

IS  enigma  delta  vita 

La  sotto  ondeggia  e  mormora. 

Whose  are  those  lines  ?     Ah  !     My  good  Pauzacchi. 

What  is  he  about  no\v,  I  wonder  ?  And  then  visions 

of  a  festive  evening  at  the 

Artists'  Club  at  Turin, 

like  a  great  luminous 

circle    which    sails 

aloni£  beside  our 

O 

vessel,  bright 

'  O 

with  gleam- 
ing, well- 
known 
faces  ; 
and  one 
almost  hears 
the  laughter  and 

O 

the  voices.    Then 

it  all  goes  out, — lamps, 

dreams,  friendships,   all 

the  joys  and  the  doings  of  humanity ;  the  eternal 

reality  is  that  formidable  mass  of  water  which  covers 

four  fifths  of  the  earth,  and  that    land,  with  the 

fearful  head  whose  crown  is  ice  and  whose  brain  is 


n4  ©ii  JBlue  Mater. 

fire,  which  flies  howling  and  weeping  into  the  in- 
finite. O  Prodigy  !  O  Mystery  !  I  would  stay  here 
on  an  island  for  centuries  and  centuries,  my  head 
upon  ray  hand,  thinking  and  thinking,  so  only  I 
could  for  a  single  instant  comprehend  it  all. 

Duu!  Oinqu  !  Vott!  Tucc !  were  the  cries  that 
roused  me,  coming  from  a  group  of  Lombard  emi- 
grants who  every  evening  played  mora  on  the  mid- 
ship deck.  At  that  hour  in  the  cabin  people  were 
at  chess  and  dominoes.  Those  who  had  rooms  on 
deck  received  their  friends  there,  and  there  were 
lights  and  there  was  beer  and  Bordeaux  wine. 

O 

Around  the  canteen,  forward,  was  a  throng  of  pas- 
sengers who  presented  their  order  duly  signed  by 
the  commissary  for  a  cup  of  coffee,  a  glass  of  rum,  or 
a  half-litre  of  wine  to  feast  the  closing  day.  I  went 
on  the  fore-deck  to  range  like  a  libertine  under  pro- 
tection of  the  darkness,  through  which  I  could  dimly 
see  groups  of  women  with  children  asleep  in  their 
arms,  men  who  were  drinking  all  alone,  youths  with 
noses  like  beagles  looking  and  searching  in  every 
corner.  And  that  evening  I  was  present  for  the  first 
time  at  the  separation  of  the  two  sexes,  done  under 
the  surveillance  of  the  little,  old,  hunchbacked  sailor, 
whose  business  it  was  to  send  the  women  off  to  bed. 
There  had  been  nine  days  of  monastic  life  in  the  open 
air.  Matrimonial  tenderness  had  reawakened  a  little, 
and,  besides  the  regular  relations,  others  not  so  legiti- 
mate appeared  to  be  in  train.  But  the  old  hunch- 


%ox>es  anfc  Grievances,  115 

back  had  to  separate  them  all  alike,  without  regard 
to  rights,  legal  or  otherwise,  and  every  evening  at 
ten  o'clock,  punctual  and  inexorable  as  old  Silva,  he 
appeared,  lantern  in  hand,  and  began  to  poke  in  every 
corner,  loosing  embraces  and  breaking  off  amorous 
colloquies,  crying  at  every  five  paces,  "To  bed,  to 
bed,  you  women  !  To  bed,  you  girls ! "  Comical  it 
was  to  the  last  degree.  The  couples  resisted.  Separ- 
ated here  they  came  together  again  farther  on,  be- 
tween the  washhouse  and  the  butcher's  shop,  under 
shadow  of  the  cattle-pens,  in  dark  passages,  in  every 
place  where  no  light  came  from  the  lantern.  And 
then  the  poor  old  boy  went  back  on  his  tracks, 
patiently  repeating  his  "Come,  you  women!  come, 
my  children  !  It  is  time," — Andemmo  donne  !  A.n- 
demmo  figgie  !  Che  Te  ooa.  Sometimes  to  propiti- 
ate the  recalcitrants  he  would  say,  Andemmo  scignoe, 
-"  Come,  ladies  !  " 

In  about  a  quarter  of  an  hour  the  women  moved 
in  procession,  just  as  if  it  were  a  dress  promenade, 
between  two  rows  of  men  down  through  the  cabin 
door  into  the  bowels  of  the  vessel.  Some  came 
back  once  more,  holding  out  the  baby  to  be  kissed 
by  its  papa.  Some  stopped  to  squeeze  and  squeeze 
again  the  hand  of  a  new  friend  ;  others  stood  and 

o  / 

called    their    lagging    children  :    Gioanniiin !    Bac- 

Oo         o 

cicciiin  !  Putela  !  Picciridu  !  Piccinitt!  Gennariello! 
and  the  lifted  lantern  shone  on  languishing  glances 
from  pretty  girls,  on  the  glittering  eyes  of  young  fel- 


n6  ©n  Blue  Mater* 

lows,  the  discontented  looks  of  husbands  whom  the 
regulations  annoyed ;  and  still  the  old  fellow  kept 
calling  out,  "  Come,  come,  scignoe,  a  little  faster,  ladies, 
if  you  please,"  until  the  last  of  the  procession  had 
gone  below.  But  the  old  boy,  who  knew  his  kittle 
cattle,  went  back  to  make  another  tour  of  the  deck, 
quite  sure  of  finding  some  lurking  mischief,  of  un- 
earthing some  darkling  intrigue. 

And  so  it  was  every  evening.  I  followed  him  at  a 
little  distance  and  heard  his  scandalized  father-guard- 
ian exclamations ;  and  male  voices  would  answer  de- 
siring him  to  o;o  to  the  devil,  while  softer  tones  would 

i-j  O  ' 

be  heard  apparently  denying  something  or  begging 
for  mercy.  But  he  had  no  mercy.  And  I  could 
see,  amid  a  volley  of  coughs,  women  run  by  with 
their  hair  down  and  covering  their  faces  to  conceal 

O 

them  from  the  eager  and  curious  bystanders.  As 
soon  as  he  had  swept  up  the  last  fragments  of  love- 
making  the  old  hunchback  with  the  lantern  stood 
before  me,  and,  wiping  his  brow  with  his  hand, 
growled  out,  "There's  another  cursed  day  gone!" 
Ah  !  die  mestv  ! — "  Ugh,  what  a  trade  ! "  But  on  his 
rough,  good-natured  old  face,  as  he  looked  down 
the  stairway,  there  was  a  look  of  pity  for  all 
that  trouble,  and  perhaps  a  little  sympathy  with  all 
those  yearnings  which  he  had  "only  obeyed  orders" 
in  chasing  below.  "  Hard  duty,  eh?"  I  said  to  get 
him  into  talk  and  hear  some  of  his  philosophy.  lie 
raised  his  lantern  a  little  to  look  me  in  the  face,  and 


Xoves  anD  Grievances. 


117 


then  after  a  moment  of  reflection  said,  sententiously : 
"  When  a  man  [ommo]  finds  himself  in  the  position, 
as  I  find  myself  in  the  position,  to  judge  people  as 
they  are  on  board  here,  gentle  and  simple,  and  the 
things  that  go  on  in  a  ship,  funny  and  sorrowful,  and 
the  men  and  the  women,  but  the  women  more  than 
the  men,  believe  me,  sdgnore,  he  gets  a  notion  that 
it  is  no  use  being  surprised  at  anything,  and  is  ready 
to  put  up  with  almost  everything."  So  saying,  he 
disappeared,  and  the  men  also  one  after  another  went 
below.  The  ship  was  silent  and  quiet,  like  some 
enormous  animal  that  was  gliding  drowsily  over  the 
sea  without  sound  save  for  the  measured  beating 
of  its  mighty  heart. 


CHAPTER  VII 


THE    TROPIC    OF    CANCER 


HE  next  day  we  were  to  pass  the 
Tropic  of  Cancel'.  I  was  told 
this  early  in  the  morning  by  the 
steward  with  his  usual  down- 
cast look,  —  for  he  practised, 
among  other  things,  the  affec- 
tation of  dropping  his  eyes  while  he  spoke,  as  if 
to  conceal  the  joy  that  filled  his  soul  at  the  pros- 
pect of  final  triumph  in  the  quest  of  love.  But  the 
Tropic  of  Cancer.  It  was  the  despiteful  harbinger 
of  nearly  three  thousand  miles  of  torrid  zone  which 
we  must  pass  before  we  could  feel  the  cool  trade- 
winds  of  the  other  hemisphere ;  and  with  the  very 
thought  I  seemed  to  feel  two  great  drops  of  sweat 
course  down  my  temples.  I  looked  out  of  the 
port,  and  lo !  a  wonder.  The  ocean  most  placid, 
all  silver  and  rosy  red,  covered  with  a  transparent 
veil  of  vapor  which  the  rising  sun  made  look  like  a 
luminous  cloud  of  dust ;  and  then  some  miles  away, 

us 


Ube  TTropic  of  (lancer.  119 

in  the  very  midst  of  that  boundless  virgin  beauty  of 
air  and  water,  a  large  ship  which  seemed  immovable, 
her  broad,  white  sails  like  the  outspread  wings  of  a 
gigantic  swan  that  was  regarding  us.  I  open  the 
port  and  a  delicious  waft  of  sea  air  floods  my  face 
and  breast,  runs  down  into  my  very  veins,  and  stirs 
me  up  like  a  breath  from  a  freshened  world.  The 
ship  was  a  Swedish  sailing  vessel,  probably  from  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope ;  the  first  sail  we  had  seen  since 
Gibraltar.  For  a  few  moments  she  shone  white 
before  my  eyes  in  the  clearness  of  that  enchanting 
morning,  welcome  as  the  greeting  of  a  friend ;  then 
she  passed  out  of  view  and  the  ocean  seemed  more 
solitary  than  before ;  but  kindlier,  too,  than  I  had 
ever  seen  it ;  as  if  the  horizon  were  the  boundary 
of  an  enormous  garden.  It  was  one  of  those  morn- 
ings in  which  passengers  meet  one  another  on  deck 
with  smiling  faces  and  outstretched  hands,  as  though 
the  first  breath  of  the  rising  day  had  brought  each 
of  them  some  good  news. 

But  in  a  few  hours  all  this  fair  prospect  was  dark- 
ened, the  sky  was  clouded  over,  the  air  grew  heavy 
and  hot  as  if  we  had  made  a  leap  from  spring  into 
the  midst  of  summer.  We  had  entered  that  mass  of 
vapor,  terror  of  the  navigators  of  old,  which  the 
great  heat  of  the  equator  draws  up  from  the  ocean 
and  heaps  upon  the  torrid  zone,  and  which  those 
happy  creatures  of  Jules  Verne's  creation,  as  they 
travel  in  the  sky,  see  as  a  dark  belt  stretched  around 


120  ©n  Blue  Mater. 

our  planet  like  the  blue  streaks  upon  the  disc  of 
Jupiter.  The  smooth  sea  of  that  morning  was  the 
last  smile  of  the  temperate  zone  softened  by  the  last 
waft  of  the  trade-winds.  We  were  now  sailing  in 

o 

the  region  of  clouds,  of  thickest  showers,  of  doleful 
dulness.  And  its  influence  was  straightway  seen 
among  the  third-class  people.  The  agent  came  for 
me  in  the  saloon.  "  Come  and  see  some  alley  squab- 
bles,1 "  he  said  ;  "  the  play  has  begun." 

A  parcel  of  women  had  risen  in  rebellion  about 
the  distribution  of  fresh  water,  of  which,  over  and 
above  the  number  of  litres  allowed  each  rancho,  a 
sailor  was  to  serve  out  a  certain  quantity  to  every 
woman  when  she  asked  for  it  for  her  own  personal 
use.  So  some  complained  that  it  had  been  refused 
them  while  the  others  received  it.  But  it  was  an 
intricate  matter.  It  was  the  outbreak  of  a  resent- 
ment they  had  long  been  brooding  over  against 
what  they  regarded  as  an  habitual  and  not  uninter- 
ested injustice.  The  old  women  said  the  young 
ones  were  preferred  because  they  played  the  co- 
quette ;  these  on  the  contrary  declared  that  the  old 
ones  were  favored  because  they  had  money  and 
greased  the  palms  of  those  in  charge.  Others  again 
complained  that  the  gentlefolk,  the  quality,  were 
treated  with  more  distinction  ;  the  signore,  forsooth, 
poor,  decayed  creatures  who  had  nothing  left  of  that 

1  "Alley  squabbles,"  baruffe  chiozzotte.  Chiozza  answers  very  well  to 
Billingsgate, — its  inhabitants  being  noted  for  fluent  and  abusive  slang. 


TTropic  of  Cancer, 


121 


about  them  but  the  worn  dress  and  the  sad  mem- 
ory. The  most  waspish  of  the  protestants  were 
crowded  together  in  a  corner  near  the  kitchen,  where 
the  carcass  of  a  calf  was  hanging  up.  When  I  got 
there  the  commissary  was 
surrounded  by  fifteen  or 
twenty  slipshod  women, 
red  as  turkey-cocks,  all 
talking  together  in  three 
or  four  different  dialects, 
and  all  pointing  the  finger 
of  accusation  at  the  sailor 
in  charge,  who,  with  his 
great  beard  like  a  Capu- 
chin friar,  stood  there  as 
unmoved  in  the  midst  of 
all  that  cackle  as  a  statue 
in  a  <2rale  of  wind.  "But 

o 

I  do  not  understand  a 
word,"  said  the  commis- 
sary, with  native  coolness. 
"  Do  me  the  small  favor 
to  speak  one  at  a  time." 
And  the  looks  of  some 
of  the  younger  ones  sof- 
tened a  little  as  they  -Cbe  commissars. 

rested  on  the  white  hands 

and  rosy  cheeks  of  the  handsome  fellow ;  but  in  the 

eyes  of  the  rest  there  flashed  that  sombre  fire  which 


122  ©n  Blue  Mater. 

gleams  in  the  face  of  the  low-lived  woman  whenever 
she  disputes  even  about  the  merest  trifle  with  her 
betters,  and  which  arises  from  vague  ill-will  of  very 
old  date  and  quite  independent  of  the  matter  in 
hand.  Inn  lalossad !  we  heard  some  of  them 
say.  Pure  nui  avimmo  pagato  sigmiri.  A  Te  ora 
d'jfinila, — "  We  have  paid  too.  There  must  be  an 
end  of  this."  And  the  women's  complaints  were 
backed  up  by  dull  murmurs  from  a  little  crowd  of 
men,  who  in  their  secret  hearts  enjoyed  the  show, 
and  moreover  encouraged  the  malcontents  from  class 
sympathy  and  perhaps  from  a  little  embryo  insolence 
as  future  republicans.  At  last  the  commissary  ob- 
tained a  partial  silence,  one  woman  only  speaking. 
I  had  but  time  to  see  a  head  of  tangled  hair  and  a 
raised  forefinger  keeping  time  to  a  flood  of  gutter 
eloquence  when  an  outburst  of  exclamations  drowned 
her  voice :  "  That 's  not  true !"  Tcizevn!  Busiarda! 
Clt^l  me  senta  mi !  A  Te  rfonta  ! — "  Hold  your 
tongue  !  Liar  !  Listen  to  me  !  It  's  a  shame  !  " 
Tli en  in  the  press  a  baby  began  to  cry,  and  they 
were  ready  to  tear  each  other's  eyes  out. 

Suddenly  a  woman's  shrill  shriek  was  heard,  and  the 
people  were  seen  running  together  near  the  foremast. 
In  a  moment  there  was  a  crowd  there,  and  a  loud 
burst  of  laughter,  as  if  at  something  that  had  hap- 
pened. The  news  spread,  and  more  people  flocked  in 
from  every  side  until  there  was  a  bustle  and  a  laugh- 
ing from  the  kitchen  to  the  forecastle.  But  it  was  a 

O 


ZCropic  of  Cancer,  123 

broad  suggestive  Iaii2;h  which,  with  certain  winks 

Oo  O  ' 

and  nudges  that  passed,  sufficiently  showed  what 
kind  of  event  it  was  that  had  happened.  And  such 
was  the  curiosity  to  know  the  cause  of  it  all  that  the 
very  disputants,  forgetting  their  quarrel,  rushed  off 
to  see  what  was  the  matter.  It  seems  that  a  couple 
of  flying  fish  sailing  across  the  deck  had  hit  the  rig- 
ging and  fallen,  one  among  the  wheels  of  the  donkey 
engine  and  the  other  right  upon  the  bosom  of  a 
young  damsel, — and  headforemost,  as  if  he  meant  to 
keep  on.  As  soon  as  she  could,  the  girl  ran  behind 
the  butcher's  shop ;  and  a  clown  of  an  emigrant  car- 
ried the  shameless  fish  about,  yelling  something  or 
other  like  the  criers  in  the  seraglio  until  the  com- 
missary signed  him  to  be  quiet.  But  the  scurrility 
and  the  lauovhino;  went  on  all  the  same,  while  the 

o  <J  7 

two  sea-swallows,  shining  like  silver  and  passing 
from  hand  to  hand,  served  to  quiet  down  somewhat 

the  rising  irritation  of  the  "  working  classes." 

~  ~ 

Meanwhile,  I  marked  among  the   first-class  pas- 
sengers several  individuals  :  the  Marsisvliese,  the  Tus- 

o  o 

can,  the  tenor,  who  seemed  in  the  habit  of  hunting 
about  among  the  third-class  people.  The  most  con- 
spicuous among  them  was  the  Marsigliese  who,  with 
his  face  like  a  dropsical  Napoleon,  went  marauding 
around  the  companion-way  of  the  women's  cabin 
swaying  his  great  Patagouian  torso  about  upon  his 
bow  legs.  The  agent  told  me  he  had  begun  a  regu- 
lar series  of  visits  among  the  emigrant  ladies  with 


i24  ©n  Blue  Mater. 

conquering-hero  ideas,  and  liked  to  allude  to  them 
from  time  to  time  with  a  gently  closed  eye :  "II  y 
a  quelque  chose  a  faire  par  la,  savez  vous  I "  And 
he  had  tried  to  smooth  his  path  with  the  men  by  an 
ostentation  of  natural  sympathy  flavored  with  a  dash 
of  socialism ;  but  besides  not  getting  on  at  all  with 
the  many  he  had  heard  remarks  from  certain  indi- 
viduals that  made  him  think  a  horse  kicked  him  (da 
levare  il  pelo, — to  make  the  hair  stand  up,  literally). 
Those  persons  of  education  and  breeding  in  whose 
minds  the  innate  idea  of  equality  is  fortified  by 
association,  have  no  idea  how  general  is  the  almost 
unconscious  contempt  with  which  the  democratic 
middle  class  regards  the  people,  and  how  few  there 
are  who,  even  when  they  wish  to  conciliate  them  by 
treating  them  as  equals,  can  talk  with  them  and  not 
make  them  feel  conscious  of  it.  Seeing,  therefore, 
the  failure  of  his  first  little  attempts  the  Marsigliese 
had  been  less  assiduous,  and  confined  his  views  to  a 
mere  "  artistic  search  "  after  the  beautiful.  He  did 
from  time  to  time  discover  a  handsome  face,  and  de- 
scribed it  to  me  at  table,  boasting  that  he  could  dis- 
tinguish the  various  Italian  types.  He  held  forth 
upon  the  Tuscan  nose,  the  Venetian  mouth,  the 
Lombard  contours  (attaccature)  with  inconceivable 
self-sufficiency;  and  though,  as  had  been  proved  to 
him  more  than  once,  he  had  mistaken  the  Val  d' 
Aosta  for  Calabria,  with  other  similar  colossal  blun- 
ders, he  went  on  undismayed,  teaching  everybody 


Uropic  of  Cancer.  125 

" .  .  .  La  bouche  de  lafemme  Toscane  .  .  .  Le 
type  Genois,  messieurs,  .  .  .  J^ai  remarque  que 
I  ''angle  facial  Napolitain  .  .  .  II  y  a  la  une 
nuance,  je  vous  assure"  It  was  delightful. 

But  at  breakfast  that  morning  he  did  not  succeed 
in  cheering  up  the  guests.  They  began  to  feel  the 
influence  of  the  tropics,  and  their  dulness  was  in 
piteous  lack  of  keeping  with  the  bright  waistcoats 
and  white  jackets  which  the  sudden  heat  had  brought 
plentifully  out.  For  a  few  moments  only  he  waked 
us  up  with  a  little  discussion,  into  which  the  Argen- 
tines mischievously  drew  him,  upon  the  Malthusian 
theory,  and  especially  upon  the  old,  old  question  as 
to  whether  emigration  is  a  sufficient  remedy  for  over- 
population. Wholly  unread  in  Malthus,  but  burn- 
ins:  to  show  that  he  was  a  well-informed  man,  he 

O 

rashly  maintained  that  emigration  depopulated  a 
country,  that  Europe  in  a  hundred  years  would  be 
half-wilderness,  with  the  wolves  and  bears  at  the 
very  city  gates.  The  others  said  No,  locuras  (non- 
sense). In  every  country  births  were  more  numerous 
than  deaths  ;  nor  this  alone,  but  that  in  the  countries 
so  left  the  species  was  propagated  more  freely,  be- 
cause, the  means  of  subsistence  being  in  more  favor- 
able proportion  to  the  number  of  inhabitants,  mar- 
riage was  easier,  and  the  gaps  were  always  filled,  and 
more ;  the  proof  of  this  being  that  in  countries  from 
which  there  is  much  emigration  there  is  no  sensible 

O 

diminution  of  misery.     "  Pas  possible  /"   answered 


i26  <§>n  Blue  Mater. 

the  Marsigliese,  boldly ;  "prouvez  moi  cela  I "  But 
the  others,  with  that  admirable  readiness  of  memory 
for  which  they  were  remarkable,  quoted  Malthus  to 
show  that  in  the  years  of  fullest  emigration  England 
did  not  cease  to  suffer  from  want.  "  Malthus,  rfa 
pas  dit  cela!"  "How?  How?"  But  he,  without 
either  admitting  or  denying,  said  nothing  at  all. 
"Stuart  Mill,"  they  went  on,  "holds  that  emigration 
by  no  means  releases  us  from  the  necessity  of  pro- 
viding against  the  increase  of  population.  You  will 
allow  that  he  has  said  that."  Then  the  other, 
frankly,  "  Pas  precisement,  messieurs.'1''  And  as  he 
knew  no  more  of  Stuart  Mill  than  he  did  of  Malthus 
he  backed  down  (sincaponiva),  amid  the  laughter  of 
his  interlocutors,  who  saw7  the  joke. 

This  was  the  only  cheerful  passage  of  the  breakfast. 
The  cloudy  horizon,  the  gray  sea,  and  the  heat,  which 
began  to  bedew  our  faces  with  sweat,  kept  all  the  rest 
of  the  company  quite  silent.  The  blonde  lady  only 
showed  a  countenance  as  cool  as  a  rosy  apple,  sending 
a  double  spray  of  words  into  the  ear  of  her  husband 
on  her  left,  and  over  the  tenor  on  her  right,  now 
and  then  between  whiles  encouraging  the  little  Tus- 

O        o 

can  with  a  glance  or  so  not  to  be  jealous  of  her  new 
friend.  And  we  had  to  thank  her,  moreover,  for  a 
gleam  of  hilarity  which  hovered  over  the  yawning 
groups  on  deck  during  the  heavy  hours  of  chylifica- 
tion.  A  naive  blunder  of  hers  had  been  going  the 
rounds  all  the  morning,  and  showed  how  wholly 


TTbe  tropic  of  Cancer. 


127 


confused  were  the  ideas  of  geography  shut  up  under 
that  crown  of  curly  gold.  The  agent,  meeting  her, 
had  said,  "Signora,  we  cross  the  Tropic  of  Cancer 


"Sending  a  Souble  eprav  of  worts  into  tbe  ear  of  ber  busbanfc  on  ber  left, 
anJ>  over  tbe  tenor  on  ber  riobt." 

to-day."     "  O,  indeed  !  "  she  cried,  with  enthusiasm. 
"Then  we  shall  see  something  at  last !" 

But  I  could  not  understand  how  one  could  be  dull 
on  board  ship — on  the  contrary,  I  rather  liked  seeing 
how  bored  the  others  were  for  the  same  reason  that 
makes  one  feel  so  happy  at  being  well  when  those 
around  are  suffering  with  sea-sickness.  And  to-day 
there  could  be  no  lack  of  diversion.  Between  one 
oYlock  and  four,  the  most  trying  time,  I  began  to  see 


128  <§>n  Blue  Watet*. 

faces  that  half  made  me  think  :  Now  they  will  drop 
to  pieces  and  have  to  be  swept  off  the  deck.  It  was 
not  the  ennui  which  Leopardi  calls  the  greatest  of 
human  sentiments,  but  a  pitiful  slackening  of  mental 
fibre,  betrayed  by  the  drooping  of  eyelids,  of  cheeks, 
of  lips,  as  if  these  faces  had  been  made  of  boiled 
meat.  Among  those  most  tormented  was  the  Geno- 
ese, who  stood  looking  through  the  window  of  the 
engine-room,  with  a  face  upon  which  there  was  not 
even  a  dying  gleam  of  intelligence.  "  What  are  you 
doing  here  ?  "  I  asked.  "  Why  are  you  not  in  the 
kitchen  ? "  He  had  just  come  from  there.  No 
news.  Thought  there  would  be  tagliatelli  (flat 
maccaroni)  to-morrow.  Could  not  be  sure.  And 
then  he  explained  why  lie  stood  so  long  looking  at 
the  monotonous  movement  of  a  piston-rod.  It  was 
his  theory  about  boredom, — his  own.  "  I  have  re- 
marked," he  said,  "  that  a  man  is  bored  because  one 
cannot  prevent  himself  from  thinking  of  disagreeable 
things.  The  only  way,  therefore,  to  get  rid  of  bore- 
dom is  to  be  like  the  beasts,  and  not  think  at  all. 
So  I  stand  here  quite  still  and  watch  that  rod  go  up 
and  down.  Little  by  little,  in  about  twenty  minutes, 
I  bring  myself  to  a  condition  of  perfect  stupidity - 
a  very  ass.  So  I  do  not  think  about  anything  at  all 
and  am  not  bored.  No  (/tie  afro.  That  's  all  there 
is  to  it."  I  burst  out  laughing,  but  he  was  quite 
grave,  and  turned  round  to  gaze  at  the  piston-rod 
again,  his  eye  fixed  and  dilated  like  a  dead  man's. 


Uropic  of  (lancer.  129 

I  wanted  to  tell  him  that  a  better  way  to  get  out  of 
himself  would  be  to  go  right  down  and  see  the 
whole  engine ;  but  perceiving  that  the  desired  effect 
was  in  a  fair  way  of  being  brought  about  I  forbore. 
And  then  I  went  down  myself. 

One  reflection  I  had  made,  every  day,  in  this  con- 
nection, and  that  was  that  probably  not  ten  out  of 
the  seventeen  hundred  passengers  on  board  the 
Galileo  knew  what  the  engine  was  like  or  had  any 
curiosity  about  it.  And  so  of  a  hundred  other 
mechanical  marvels  of  human  wit.  We  make  use 
of  them  and  go  our  way  regardless  ;  not  less  ig- 
norant than  the  savages  whom  we  despise  for  their 
ignorance.  And  yet  not  only  for  those  whose  ideas 
go  no  farther  than  a  huge  kettle  and  a  mysterious 
and  intricate  mass  of  wheels,  but  also  for  many  who 
have  read  about  these  things  in  books,  it  is  a  great 
pleasure  to  get  into  the  blue  overalls  of  the  machinist 
and  for  the  first  time  go  down  into  that  dark  noisy 
kind  of  infernal  region  of  which  they  had  never  yet 
seen  anything  but  the  ascending  smoke.  When 
down  at  bottom  one  looks  up  at  the  faint  gleam  of 
day  above,  one  seems  to  have  descended  from  the 
roof  to  the  deepest  foundations  of  a  lofty  edifice ; 
and  at  the  sight  of  all  those  steep  iron  ladders,  one 
above  another,  those  horizontal  gratings,  that  variety 
of  cylinders,  of  mighty  tubes,  of  rods  and  joints  of 
every  description,  all  driven  by  furious  life  and  all 
together  making  up  some  kind  of  formidable  mon- 


130  ©n  Blue  Mater. 

ster,  which  with  its  hundred  limbs  occupies  a  third 
part  of  the  enormous  ship,  one  stands  fixed  in  won- 
der and  humiliation  at  seeming  so  small  beside  that 
prodigy  of  power.  And  the  wonder  grows  when 
we  push  on  into  the  volcano  that  gives  life  to  it  all, 
and  walk  among  those  mighty  boilers, — six  steel-built 
houses  standing  on  four  crossing  streets  like  a  dis- 
trict barred  up  and  on  fire, — where  many  black,  half- 
naked  men  with  red  faces  and  bloodshot  eyes,  who 
swallow  at  every  moment  floods  of  water,  toil  cease- 
lessly to  feed  thirty-six  red-hot  mouths  which,  urged 
by  the  blast  of  six  huge  ventilators  that  roar  like 
the  open  throats  of  lions,  devour  in  the  twenty-four 
hours  a  hundred  tons  of  coal.  We  seem  to  come 
back  to  life  when,  issuing  thence,  all  dripping 
with  sweat,  we  stand  once  more  before  the  engine, 
where  but  a  moment  ago  we  seemed  quite  buried. 
And  yet  it  takes  some  time  to  get  one's  ideas 
together.  The  engineer  may  explain  as  much  as  he 
likes,  but  all  that  dizzying  movement  of  pistons  and 
rockers  and  governors  and  what  not,  among  which 
the  oilers  move  with  such  blood-chilling  coolness ; 
the  stunning  uproar  of  the  cranks,  the  whistling  of 
valves,  the  dull  plunge  of  the  pumps,  the  sharp 
stroke  of  the  eccentrics;  the  spectres  who,  lamp  in 
hand,  climb  up  and  down  the  ladders,  appear  and 
disappear,  above,  below,  on  every  side,  and  light  up 
witli  weird  gleam  steel,  iron,  bronze,  brass,  copper; 
strange  shapes  and  movements  hardly  understood; 


Uroptc  of  Cancer.  131 

unknown  depths,  unexplored  passages;  all  this 
upsets  the  few  clear  ideas  we  may  have  had  on 
coming  down  here. 

O 

We  feel  reassured  by  the  mighty  strength  of  this 
machinery  ;  but  our  security  diminishes  as  we  mark 
with  what  anxious  care  the  attendants  watch  it,  listen- 
ing to  hear  whether  in  that  uniform  concert  of  sound 
there  be  the  faintest  tone  of  discord,  snuffing  for  the 
merest  suspicion  of  burning  amid  all  those  familiar 
smells ;  how  they  run  here  and  there  to  feel  if  the 
metal  be  hotter  than  it  should  be,  to  look  if  there  be 
unjustified  smoke,  and  to  keep  up  that  unbroken  rain 
of  oil  which,  from  fifty  long-nosed  cans,  runs  down 
through  the  joints  of  that  colossal  frame.  For  that 
colossal  frame,  which  copes  successfully  with  the  gales 
of  ocean,  is  as  delicate  as  a  human  body ;  the  smallest 
disorder  in  any  of  its  members  is  felt  throughout, 
and  must  instantly  be  remedied.  It  does  indeed 
resemble  a  living  tiling.  Thirsty,  like  the  men  that 
feed  it,  from  the  fire  that  burns  within,  it  must 
swallow  up  unceasingly  a  torrent  of  water  from  the 
sea  and  send  it  out  again  in  boiling  streams  ;  and 
all  that  complication  of  rods  and  joints  is  like  a 
Titanic  body,  whose  every  effort  is  concentrated 
upon  giving  formidable  impulse  to  a  mighty  arm  of 
iron,  driver  of  the  great  bronze  screw  which  tears  up 
the  ocean  and  urge:  the  whole  mass  onward.  As 
we  look,  the  Liburnian  of  old  time  comes  into  our 
minds  with  its  three  pairs  of  paddle-wheels  moved 


132  ©n  JBlue  Mater, 

by  the  slow  tread  of  oxen  ;  and  we  think  with  pride 
of  the  wonder  which  would  fix  one  of  that  ao;e  to 

O 

the  spot,  could  he  see  what  we  see,  and  the  cry  of 
amazement  which  would  burst  from  his  soul.  But 
he  could  not  imagine  what  that  miracle  had  cost  his 
fellow-creatures.  A  century  of  fruitless  attempts ; 
a  legion  of  great  geniuses  who  spent  their  whole 
lives  over  an  improvement  which  the  next  generation 
consigned  to  oblivion — the  martyrdom  of  Papin ; 
the  suicide  of  John  Fitch  ;  the  poverty  of  Jouft'roy  ; 
Fulton  made  a  mock  of;  Savage  driven  mad;  an 
interminable  series  of  injustice,  of  pitiful  struggles, 
of  doubts,  and  of  despair.  The  examples  of  genius 
and  heroic  constancy  to  be  found  in  this  great  history 
must  console  the  human  race  for  the  existence  of 
that  stubborn  ignorance,  that  ferocious  greed,  that 
detestable  envy  which  fought  against  them  and 
would  have  crushed  them  if  it  could  have  done  so. 
All  this  that  wonderful  monster,  with  its  hundred 
harsh  and  weary  voices,  says  to  us ;  and  yet  it  may 
seem  to  our  remote  descendants  the  weak  and 
clumsy  work  of  groping  beginners. 

Going  up  again  I  met  at  the  top  of  the  stairs  the 
tall  priest,  who,  pointing  with  one  hand  to  the  en- 
gine, put  the  forefinger  of  the  other  in  front  of  my 
face  like  a  wax  candle.  I  did  not  understand  ;  but 
what  he  wished  to  say  was  that  the  engine  of  the 
Galileo  had  cost  a  million.  I  thanked  him,  put  aside 
the  finger,  and  went  on  deck  again  just  at  the  right 


Ube  Uropic  of  Cancer. 


133 


moment  to  see,  for  the  first  time,  my  friend  the  com- 
missary in  the  exercise  of  his  function  as  justice  of  the 
peace  in  a  most  curious  "  case." 
The  big  Bolognese  was  at  that 
instant  going  into  his  room 
with  the  face  of  a  wounded 
lioness,  her  inseparable  pouch 
around  her  neck.  There  was 
nothing  to  cover  the  entrance 

o 

but  a  thin  green  curtain,  so 
every  word  could  easily  be 
heard.  That  unhappy  com- 
missary !  I  was  not  long  in 
coming  to  a  sense  of  what  en- 

O 

ormous  patience  he  had  to 
exercise  in  these  sittings.  The 
voice  of  the  complainant  be- 
gan to  be  raised,  quivering 
with  rasje  and  full  of  hauo-hti- 

O  O 

ness  and  threatening:.     All  I 

O 

could  make  out  was  that  she 
complained  of  some  injury 
which  appeared  to  be  neither 
more  nor  less  than  a  surmise 
ventured  upon  by  a  fellow- 
passenger  as  to  the  contents 
of  the  mysterious  pouch.  She 
stated  the  facts,  demanded  the 
punishment  of  the  insulter,  and 


134  ©n  Blue  Mater, 

called  upon  the  commissary  to  do  his  duty.  He 
in  turn  desired  her  to  respect  his  office,  and  to 
be  calm,  promising  to  look  into  the  matter.  At 
these  words  her  voice  softened  a  little,  and  she 
appeared  to  commence  a  long  story  in  a  senti- 
mental tone,  which  gradually  rose  to  the  dramatic. 
Yes,  it  was  her  autobiography,  the  usual  thing — a 
distinguished  family,  a  relative  who  wrote  to  the 
newspapers  and  would  call  them  all  to  account,  a 
father  and  mother,  good  bringing  up;  then  misfor- 
tunes, the  injustice  of  fate,  a  blameless  life ;  and,  in  due 
time,  the  inevitable  crisis — the  burst  of  tears.  Then 
I  heard  the  voice  of  the  commissary  soothing  her. 
Meanwhile  a  little  crowd  had  gathered  before 

O 

the  door,  men  and  women  of  the  third  class,  among 
them  that  clown-faced  peasant  who  had  lost  the  tip 
of  his  nose.  He  appeared  to  be  the  culprit,  for  he 
was  making  excuses.  "  After  all,  I  did  n't  say  I  was 
sure,  did  I  ?  It  was  only  a  sort  of  guess.1'  He  was 
the  culprit ;  and  when  he  reached  the  commissary's 
door  he  went  in,  saying,  "  Here  I  am."  Straightway 
came  an  outburst  of  Bolognese  abuse,  which  utterly 
belied  the  lady's  claim  to  distinguished  descent 
"  Caroyna  (Vtm  fastidi!  At  d  feyhet  d^avgnlrom 
dlnanz  ?  A  t  dap  pi'"1  d  col,  brott  pni'zcll !  brott  (/royn 
d\ui  vilan  seinza  education  I  "  Then  all  three  voices 
together,  and  finally  the  culprit's  only.  If  you  will 
believe  it,  the  quarrel  was  about  the  supposed  con- 
tents of  the  famous  pouch,  as  to  which  all  the  gentle 


TIropic  of  Cancer.  135 

creatures  of  the  fore-deck  had  been  cudgelling  their 
brains  these  nine  days,  and  making  the  most  ridicu- 
lous conjectures.  But  I  did  not  catch  the  fatal  word. 
I  did,  however,  hear  the  commissary  give  the  peasant 
a  setting-down,  threatening  to  put  him  in  irons,  the 
peasant  making  excuses,  and  the  Bolognese  scolding 
all  the  while,  until,  at  last,  the  man  came  out  with 
his  head  hanging  and  the  woman  with  her  head  high. 

O        o  O 

Then,  raising  the  green  curtains,  I  went  in,  to  find 
the  judge  rolling  on  the  sofa  with  his  hands  to  his 
sides,  suffocated  with  suppressed  laughter.  What 
was  the  surmise  ?  What  was  supposed  to  be  in  that 
blessed  pouch  ?  You  would  never  guess  in  the 
world.  One  of  the  most  ridiculous  notions  that 
ever  passed  through  the  brain  of  an  impertinent 
clown  ;  one  which  would  have  made  the  most  crabbed 
moralist  laugh  in  his  beard,  and  to  which  the  author1 
of  the  Bo/ruffe  Chiozzotte,  with  respect  be  it  spoken, 
might  have  set  his  name.  And  I  had  to  make  way 
to  the  sofa,  too ;  but  straightway  had  to  rise  as 
another  woman  came  to  complain  of  "  certain  reports 
which  had  been  put  in  circulation  about  her."  "Alas, 
poor  commissary,"  I  said  as  I  went  out,  "the  day  has 
begun  badly  and  will  end  worse."  "  Oh,  this  is 
nothing,"  he  said  in  his  mild,  resigned  voice,  and 
with  a  look  at  the  thermometer.  "  Wait  until  we 
have  97°,  Fahrenheit."  Then  putting  on  his  judge's 
face  he  turned  to  the  newcomer. 

1  Goldoni,  Cliioggia  Squabbles.    See  p.  120. 


136  ©n  Blue  Mater. 

But  the  heat  had  upset  us  in  the  after-cabin  no 
less,  as  might  easily  be  perceived  that  evening.  It 
was  pitiable.  There  were  half  a  dozen  creatures 
who  ten  days  before  did  not  know  of  one  another's 
existence ;  who  in  ten  days  more  were  to  separate 
forever;  who,  one  would  imagine,  had  nothing  so 
important  to  think  of  as  what  they  had  left  be- 
hind in  Europe,  or  what  they  were  going  to  in 
America;  who  had  nothing  but  a  couple  of  planks 
between  them  and  the  bottomless  sea ;  and  who  yet 
had  devised  all  sorts  of  tangled  intrigues,  mutual 

O  O  / 

hatreds,  and  complicated  antipathies.  There  was 
national  rancor  between  the  Chilian  and  the  Peru- 
vian, between  the  Italian  and  the  Frenchman  ;  bick- 
erings between  the  Italians  of  different  provinces; 
miserable  jealousies  among  the  ladies,  mushroom 
growth  of  shameful  little  spiteful  nesses  which  broke 
out  in  cross  looks  or  reciprocal  ostentations  of 
neglect  and  aversion.  One  half  of  the  passengers 
was  ready  to  scratch  the  faces  of  the  other  half. 
And  this  quite  independent  of  other  vulgarities. 
Alas  !  If  the  Galileo  had  foundered  on  the  spot 
she  would  not  have  carried  to  the  bottom,  many 
lofty  souls.  The  only  two  who,  as  far  as  one  could 
judge,  would  have  deserved  to  survive  were  the 
young  lady  from  Mestre  and  the  Garibaldian  who, 
even  on  that  evening,  were  sitting  together  con- 
versing. Their  acquaintance,  the  agent  told  me, 
arose  from  his  having  been  comrade  to  the  young 


tlbc  ^Tropic  of  Cancer,  137 

lady's  brother,  wounded  at  Bezzecca  and  dying  in 
hospital  at  Brescia.  No  doubt  his  soul  was  far 
above  the  wretched  little  jealousies  of  the  others, 
for  his  face  expressed  such  an  indifference  about 
himself,  about  life,  and  about  his  fellow-creatures, 
such  a  cold  and  lofty  scorn  of  everything  that  was 
low,  that  everyone  avoided  him  as  if  they  instinct- 
ively perceived  in  him  a  foe.  And  the  manner  in 
which  the  pair  separated  late  that  evening  struck 
me  most  forcibly,  remaining  in  my  mind  as  the  most 
vivid  impression  of  the  day.  Yes,  I  can,  even  now, 
see  that  handsome,  haughty  giant  rise  and  bend  his 
head  with  its  impress  of  attempted  suicide  before 
that  pale,  pale  mask,  that  face  as  of  the  dead,  in 
which  no  expression  was  left  but  the  bright  hope  of 
a  life  hereafter. 


CHAPTER  VIII 


A    YELLOW    OCEAN 

T  this  point  I  find  on  the  cover  of 
my  Berghaus  Atlas,  where  I  made 
some  notes  every  day,  these 
words:  "llth  day.  Stroke  of 
spiritual  apoplexy,"  and  I  call  to 
mind  a  singular  psychological 
phenomenon,  which  occurred  to  me  on  tlmt  day,  and 
which  falls  to  the  lot  of  everyone,  I  suppose,  on  a 
long  voyage,  so  soon  as  the  novelty  of  life  on  board 
ship  has  worn  off.  Some  fine  morning,  as  you  go  on 
deck,  dulness  comes  down  on  your  soul  all  of  a  sud- 
den, like  the  blow  of  a  club  on  the  back  of  your  neck. 
Everything  has  lost  color;  you  feel  an  inexpressible 
disgust  for  life  and  all  about  you  ;  there  is  a  sense  of 
suffocation,  such  as  one  might  experience  who,  fall- 
ing asleep  in  the  open  air,  should  wake  up  in  a  dun- 
geon with  the  gyves  upon  his  wrists.  At  such  a 
moment  you  seem  to  have  been  at  sea  from  time  im- 
memorial, like  the  passengers  in  that  fantastic  dis- 

138 


a  HJellow  ©cean.  139 

co very  ship  of  Edgar  A.  Poe ;  and  the  idea  of  passing 
another  fortnight  on  that  bundle  of  planks  among 
all  those  boredom-stricken  wretches  overwhelms  you. 
You  cannot  help  yourself;  this  strange  brain -sickness, 
hitherto  unknown,  will  surely  get  hold  of  you  before 
the  voyage  is  over.  How  get  rid  of  the  torture  ? 
Kind  Heaven,  how  ?  Write  !  But,  as  many  a  one 
has  remarked  before,  the  ship  attacks  the  writer  in 
one  of  his  weakest  points,  the  sense  of  harmony  ; 
the  noise  of  the  screw  makes  him  write  the  same 
word  over  twenty  times  in  a  page.  Read  !  But, 
with  the  very  idea  of  forcing  yourself  to  write  you 
have  shut  up  all  your  books  in  the  trunks  that  are 
down  in  the  hold.  You  seriously  think  of  taking  a 
sleeping  draught,  of  tipsifying  yourself  with  cognac, 
or  of  trying,  like  the  Genoese,  the  experiment  of  the 
piston-rod.  O  for  something  new  !  A  hundred  lire 
for  this  morning's  Corriere  Mercantile!  A  pound 
of  blood  for  an  island  !  Let  us  have  a  mutiny,  a 
hurricane,  the  wreck  of  matter  and  the  crash  of 
worlds,  so  only  we  may  for  one  day  get  out  of  this 
horrible  condition. 

The  sea  showed  itself  that  morning  in  one  of  its 
ugliest  aspects ;  moveless  beneath  a  low-hanging 
arch  of  lazy-pacing  clouds  of  a  dirty-yellow  color 
and  looking  viscid,  like  so  much  fat  mud  in  which  a 
harpoon  would  have  stood  upright  like  a  toothpick 
in  a  lump  of  mastic ;  and  it  seemed  as  if  no  fish 
glanced  through  it,  but  only  foul,  deformed  creatures 


140  <§m  3Blue  Mater, 

of  its  own  color.  It  may  be  that  the  plains  to  the 
west  of  the  Caspian  Sea,  when  they  are  covered  with 
mire  from  a  volcanic  eruption,  present  a  similar  ap- 
pearance. If  this  great  sea,  salt  like  the  blood,  and 
provided  with  a  pulse,  a  heart,  a  circulation,  had 
been,  not  an  inorganic  element,  but  an  enormous  liv- 
ing, thinking  animal,  I  should  have  said  that  morning 
that  the  creature  was  wandering  in  his  mind  and  had 
a  headful  of  formless,  unconnected  fancies  like  any 
half-drunken  brute.  But  the  sea  did  not  look  as  if 
alive.  There  was  not  a  breath  of  wind,  not  a  ripple, 
not  a  wrinkle  on  the  water.  It  looked  like  that 
desert  corner  of  the  ocean  l  lying  between  the  cur- 
rent of  Humboldt  and  the  stream  that  meets  it  from 
the  centre  of  the  Pacific — a  region  long  unexplored, 
lying  out  of  the  lines  of  traffic,  where  no  ship  is  to 
be  seen,  no  whale,  no  porpoise,  no  gull ;  a  place 
which  everything  avoids,  where  all  sign  of  life  dis- 
appears, and  where  the  crew  of  any  ship  that  should 
be  forced  by  wind  and  tempest  to  pass  over  it  might 
well  feel  that  they  were  sailing  the  waters  of  a  per- 
ished world. 

But  by  the  blessing  of  Providence  these  attacks 
of  ennui  are  like  twinges  in  the  joints, — terrible  but 
short.  And  the  captain  helped  us  out.  At  break- 
fast that  morning  he  was  in  the  vein,  and  chatted, 
full  of  good-humor,  though  one  would  hardly  have 
thought  so  from  his  look.  As  usual,  this  was  his 

1  Known  as  "  The  Desolate  Sea." 


a  Bellow  ©cean,  141 

best  hour.  He  had  by  that  time  overhauled  the 
reckonings  of  his  officers,  pricked  off  the  ship's  place 
on  the  chart,  computed  what  we  had  done  and  what 
was  yet  to  do,  seen  that  the  Galileo  had  made  good 
way  in  the  last  twenty-four  hours ;  and,  when  there 
was  nothing  specially  disagreeable  going  on,  there  he 
would  sit  at  table,  rubbing  his  hands,  and  keeping 
up  the  conversation.  But  even  at  these  times  he 
failed  not  to  "  rattle  down  "  the  stewards  in  sailor 
phrase,  both  for  a  salutary  warning  to  them  and  by 
way  of  keeping  his  own  hand  in.  To  one  who  made 
vain  excuses  he  shouted,  Va  via,  impostb  ! — "  Be  off  ! 
you  humbug ! "  Another  he  threatened  with  due 
maschae  ! — "  a  pair  of  boxed  ears."  To  a  third,  Mm, 
sae,  die  se  comengo  a  giastemmd  ! — "  If  I  begin  to  use 
bad  language,  look  out ! "  And  he  threatened  with 

O         Q    ? 

manual  and  pedal  castigation  Ruy  Bias  in  particular, 
who  answered  with  the  gentlest  of  smiles,  as  one 
that  should  say,  "  Rage,  Tyrant  !  thou  hast  the 
power,  but  not  the  love."  Indeed,  I'm  afraid  that 
our  good  captain's  language  was  a  little  too  lurid  for 
ladies'  company.  But  we  held  him  excused  when 
we  thought  of  the  many  captains  of  other  nations 
who  are  perfect  gentlemen  at  table  and  hard  drink- 
ers in  their  rooms ;  for  since  we  had  to  trust  some 
one  with  our  lives,  it  seemed  better,  after  all,  that  it 
should  be  a  temperate  boor  (rusticone)  than  an  aris- 
tocratic drunkard. 

Accordingly  that   morning,  as   usual,   he   called 


i42  ©u  JBlue  Mater. 

them  all  ragamuffins  on  one  side  and  swine  on  the 
other,  and  then  began  to  converse  quietly.  His  talk 
was  that  of  the  blunt  sailor,  and  I  remember  it  well 
from  the  torture  it  gave  to  my  unhappy  neighbor, 
the  advocate.  It  was  the  plump  lady,  the  supposed 
tamer  of  beasts,  who  gave  an  unfortunate  turn 
to  the  discourse  by  asking  the  captain,  with  an  in- 
opportuneness  which  betrayed  matutinal  Chartreuse, 
what  was  the  most  usual  cause  of  shipwreck.  The 
captain  answered  that  there  were  more  than  fifty 
causes  of  marine  disaster — explosion,  fire,  leaks,  hur- 
ricanes, cyclones,  typhoons,  reefs,  sandbanks,  colli- 
sions, and  so  on.  Half  of  the  wrecks,  however,  arose 
from  professional  ignorance  ;  from  rashness ;  from 
carelessness ;  from  ill-built  vessels ;  in  short,  from 
preventable  causes.  One  year  with  another,  there 
were  about  six  thousand  wrecks  of  vessels  large  and 
small ;  without  taking  into  account  China,  Japan, 
and  Malaysia. 

The  advocate  began  to  look  gloomy  from  the  first, 
and  pretended  not  to  listen ;  but  it  was  clear  that  a 
morbid  curiosity  overcame  his  prudence.  And  it 
was  worse  still  when  the  same  lady,  making  one  of 
those  conversational  leaps  so  common  with  her  sex, 
asked  the  captain  how  one  felt  and  what  one  saw 
when  sinking  in  deep  water. 

"  Cose  se  preuva"  said  the  captain,  "  no  savieivo. 
What  one  feels  I  do  not  know,  but  as  to  what  one 
sees,  it  is  something  like  this.  For  a  while  you  see 


"  "fee  fatleo  not  to  '  rattle  oown '  tbe  steward?. 


144  ©n  Blue  Mater. 

the  light,  a  dim,  livid  light,  then  it  is  like  the  twi- 
light, they  say — a  red  color — rather  grim,  and  then 
good-bye — utter  darkness,  great  fall  in  temperature 
down  to  freezing.  Still,"  he  continued,  turning  to 
the  poor  advocate  as  if  to  console  him,  "  maybe  it  is 
not  altogether  dark,  perhaps  there  are  chance  streaks 
of  phosphorus ;  but  it  is  not  cheerful  at  any  rate." 

The  advocate  began  to  show  signs  of  impatience, 
growling  under  his  breath  :  "  Is  this  the  way  to  talk 
on  shipboard  ?  I  shall  leave  the  table ;  no  more 
breeding  than  so  many  horned  brutes !  " 

Whereon  the  old  Chilian,  the  monoculous 
Genoese,  and  the  captain  began  to  recall  and  de- 
scribe celebrated  shipwrecks,  each  more  horrible 
than  the  other,  with  that  indifference  to  death  which 
is  apt  to  get  down  into  the  soul  through  the  ali- 
mentary canal  when  we  are  seated  at  a  well-spread 
table ;  and  on  they  went,  from  the  famous  raft  of 
the  Medusa  to  the  A  tlax,  which  disappeared  between 
Marseilles  and  Algiers  without  ever  being  heard  of 
again.  The  captain  spoke  of  the  English  steamers 
Nautilus,  Newton- Col ville,  and  another  which  left 
Dantzic  in  December,  1866,  and  vanished  like  ghosts 
without  anyone  ever  knowing  when  or  how. 

The  advocate  ceased  eating. 

But  the  captain  went  on.  With  the  eloquence  of 
one  who  recounts  a  scene  in  which  his  life  has  been 
at  stake,  he  described  a  terrific  gale  which  caught 
him  on  the  English  coast  when  he  was  in  command 


B  fellow  ©cean. 


of  a  sailing  ship ;  and,  as  he  came  to  the  crisis,  he 
imitated  in  a  head  voice,  but  with  admirable  exacti- 
tude, the  prolonged  and  despairing  cry  of  the  man 
at  the  wheel :  Andemmo  a 
foooooondo  ! — "  Down  she 
go-o-o-o-o-o-es ! " 

At  these  words  the  ad- 
vocate rose,  and,  dashing 
his  napkin  on  the  table, 
went  hurriedly  away, 
grinding  out  curses  that 
would  have  done  dam- 
age if  they  had  reached 
the  address.  But  as  he 
often  retired  before  the 
rest,  the  captain  fortun- 
ately took  no  notice.  No 
sooner  was  he  gone  than 
the  conversation  changed 
ex  abrupto  as  if  hitherto 
it  had  been  carried  on  with 
purpose  to  annoy  him;  and 
our  commander  began  to  give 
the  talk  that  varied  color  and 
those  strange  turns  which  no  one  can  impart  to  it 
like  a  transatlantic  steamer  captain,  to  whom  the 
widely  separated  parts  he  visits  and  in  which  he 
passes  his  life  are  always  present  to  his  mind  and  all 
mixed  up  together.  From  the  last  representation  of 


"(Briifting  out  curses." 


146  ©n  Blue  Mater. 

Fra  Diavolo  at  the  Paganini  in  Genoa  he  passed 
over  to  a  quarrel  he  had  had,  at  St.  Vincent  of  the 
Cape  Verdes,  with  a  black  woman,  who  made 
flowers  out  of  bird-feathers ;  then  he  tacked  some 

domestic  adventure  or  other  of  the  coal  ao-ent  at 

~ 

Gibraltar  on  to  a  bit  of  gossip  from  Rio  Janeiro ; 
and  then  passed  at  one  jump  from  a  breakfast  to 
which  he  had  been  invited  at  Las  Pal  mas  in  the 
Canaries  to  a  meddlesome  custom-house  officer  at 
Montevideo.  I  seemed  to  be  listening  to  a  marvel- 
lous creature  who  lived  in  three  continents  at  once, 
and  for  whom  distance  and  time  had  no  existence. 
I  remarked,  too,  that  the  people  he  met  in  the  ports 
he  visited  were  the  only  ones  that  remained  fixed 
and  distinct  in  his  memory ;  and  the  numberless 
others  who  came  on  board  as  passengers  passed 
through  his  mind  as  they  did  through  the  ship, 
leaving  but  the  vaguest  remembrance  behind  them. 
His  knowledge,  too,  of  countries  was  sui  generis,  such 
as  is  had  from  looking  at  them  through  the  door,  as 
it  were.  For  instance,  he  would  know  the  price  of 
vegetables  in  their  markets,  and  have  no  idea  of  their 
history  or  form  of  government.  So  too  with  lan- 
guages, lie  knew  only  the  substantives  and  verbs 
of  a  certain  kind,  the  small  change,  so  to  speak,  of 
conversation  ;  and  had  only  one  kind  of  grammar 
for  them -all.  His  judgments  of  worldly  matters 
were  marked  by  the  naivete  of  a  grown-up  college 
student  who  goes  into  society  once  a  month  or  so ; 


B  fellow  ©cean,  147 

and  his  acquirements  and  opinions  were  out  of  date, 
without  connection  and  wholly  one-sided,  like  the 
views  he  had  of  the  cities  he  visited ;  that  is  to  say, 
sea  views  only.  His  last  anecdote  was  about  a  little 
difficulty  with  a  grain  broker  at  Odessa,  in  1868,  re- 
sulting as  usual  in  a  handsome  largesse  of  facers  on 
his  part.  E '  ghe  n"1  lio  thete, — "  O  I  gave  it  him,"  he 
said ;  and  he  wound  up  by  giving  his  near  neighbors 
at  table  a  serious  and  well-considered  eulogium  of 
his  wife;  a  frugal  home-keeping  woman,  full  of 
good  sense,  and  one  whom  he  wished  he  had  met 
and  married  ten  years  earlier. 

When  we  rose  from  the  table  he  stopped  at  the 
door  of  the  saloon,  as  he  always  did  when  he  felt 
pretty  well  pleased  with  himself,  to  see  the  guests 
go  out,  saluting  them  gently  with  an  air  of  grave 
benignity.  Standing  close  to  him,  I  was  able  to 
catch  a  severe  glance  which  he  cast  at  the  blonde 
lady,  whose  conduct,  it  would  seem,  began  to  shock 
his  rigorous  ideas  of  maritime  morality ;  the  more, 
perhaps,  at  that  moment,  when  he  was  still  warm 
from  the  eulogium  he  had  been  passing  upon  his 
wife.  But  the  lady  passed  by  smiling  and  saw 
nothing.  At  the  next  instant  I  was  amazed  to  see 
him  raise  his  cap  and  bow  with  an  air  of  great  re- 
spect to  the  young  lady  from  Mestre,  who  passed  by 
on  the  arm  of  her  aunt.  When  she  was  gone  he 
turned  to  the  bystanders  and  said  gravely,  Quella 
figgia  II . .  .  a  Ve  un  angeo, — "  That  girl  is  an  angel !  " 


148  <§>n  Blue  Mater, 

The  heat  being  great  at  that  hour,  almost  every- 
body remained  on  deck  a  long  time  under  shade  of 
the  awning;  and  I  could  mark  better  than  the  even- 
ing  before  the  changes  which  the  last  few  days  had 
brought  about  in  the  relations  between  passengers. 
Such  politeness  !  Persons  who  during  the  first  week 
seemed  hardly  able  to  endure  one  another  were  now 
in  close  and  friendly  conversation ;  whereas  others 
who  had  seemed  tied  together  now  avoided  each 
other  with  disgust.  A  long  trip  is  like  a  bit  of 
separate  existence,  where  friendships  are  born  and 
ripen  and  die  for  us  as  quickly  as  the  seasons  follow 
one  another  for  the  ship,  which  passes  in  three  weeks 
from  spring  to  autumn.  The  certainty  of  parting 
before  many  days  and  of  meeting  never  again  en- 
courages confidence.  The  facility  of  going  over  to 
new  friends  on  the  first  quarrel,  and  the  ease  with 
which  we  can  pretend  to  be  more  than  we  are,  or 
different  from  what  Ave  are,  is  a  temptation  to  make 
new  ties  and  to  break  out  of  old  ones ;  because 
everyone  does  the  same  by  us,  and  we  hardly  have 
time  to  see  the  little  trick  when  all  is  at  an  end. 
For  this  reason  friendships  on  board  ship  dance  the 
contra-dance  and  "  set "  to  one  and  to  another. 
Then,  too,  there  is  nothing  like  boredom  to  make 
men  do  mean  things.  On  the  tenth  day  there  are 
those  capable  of  humbly  courting  the  conversation 
of  certain  others  whom  they  had  affronted  the  even- 
ing before  with  the  most  barefaced  manifestations 


H  fellow  ©cean,  149 

of  aversion.  I  saw,  amongst  other  new  pairs,  the 
Neapolitan  priest  walking  with  a  young  Argentine 
who  hitherto  had  bantered  him  more  openly  and 
more  impertinently  than  all  the  rest,  but  who  now 
listened  with  visible  deference  to  his  harangues 
about  emisiones  fiduciarias  y  de  nmnerario  of  some 
financial  institution  in  Buenos  Ayres ;  and  on  the 
other  side  of  the  deck  was  that  upstart  of  a  mill- 
owner,  who  had  somehow  fastened  upon  the  old 
Chilian,  and  who  complained  in  a  loud  voice  of  the 
falta  de  limpieza  (lack  of  cleanliness)  on  board 
Italian  ships,  without  remarking  that  his  inter- 
locutor wore  upon  his  face  an  expression  of  disgust 
which  meant  that  he  would  before  long  turn  his 
back.  But  the  great  event  was  going  on  abaft  the 
wheel.  The  husband  of  the  Swiss  lady  was  for  the 
first  time  in  colloquy  with  the  Argentine  deputy,  to 
whom  he  appeared  to  be  explaining  the  mechanism 
of  the  patent  log ;  and  most  comical  was  the  pro- 
found attention  which  the  listener  seemed  to  pay, 
slowly  turning  his  head  now  and  then  to  glance 
at  the  sometime  violatress  of  his  quarters,  who 
promenaded  between  the  surly  little  Tuscan  and 
the  radiant  tenor,  all  smiles  and  blandishments, 
but  attentive  the  while  to  the  other  two,  and  well 
pleased,  as  may  be  supposed,  at  such  unexpected 
overtures.  The  lady,  as  she  walked  up  and  down, 
passed  before  the  little  piano-player  seated  on  one 
side ;  and  she  in  her  turn  looked  the  other  from  head 


150  ©n  Blue  Mater. 

to  foot  with  a  long  piercing  glance,  in  which  there 
was  curiosity  and  sensual  envy  and  all  the  im- 
prisoned passions  of  a  captive  animal ;  and  then  her 
countenance  resumed  its  usual  expression  of  nunlike 
impassibility.  Her  mother,  meanwhile,  seated  be- 
tween her  and  the  lady  of  the  brush,  tore  to  pieces 
with  eye  and  tongue  a  new  lilac  dress  which  the 
young  bride  had  on.  It  was  a  little  creased,  there  's 
no  denying  it.  Said  young  lady  was  hanging  on 
her  husband's  arm,  and  standing  with  him  before 
the  beast-tamer,  who  seemed  to  be  jesting  in  a  way 
to  embarrass  her,  and,  lolling  in  a  rocking-chair, 
ineffectually  tried  to  medicine  her  somewhat  "  ele- 
vated" condition  with  aromatic  extracts.  Mean- 
while the  a^ent,  commanding  the  whole  with  his 

O  O 

detective  glance,  leaned  against  the  mizzen-mast,  his 
arms  folded  on  his  breast,  with  the  air  of  a  man  who 
is  awaiting  a  crisis  of  some  kind.  All  the  others, 
sitting  or  standing  about,  talked  in  a  wearied  way, 
yawning  openly,  while  the  yellow  sea  made  a  suit- 
able background  for  those  gossippy,  sleepy  faces. 
Amongst  many  pictures,  driven  out  each  by  the 
next,  which  the  deck  presented  during  the  voyage, 
this  one  only,  painted  in  mud  color,  has  remained, 
I  do  not  know  why,  fixed  and  vivid  in  my  memory. 
But  suddenly  the  scene  became  alive  and  the  rep- 
resentation a  real  farce.  The  Tuscan  quickly,  almost 
rudely,  quitted  the  company  and  went  straight  for- 
ward as  if  with  a  view  to  indemnification  among  the 


H  fellow  (S>ceam  151 

ladies  there.  A  moment  later  the  Swiss  lady  and 
the  tenor  separated,  he  to  sit  down  and  make  pre- 
tence of  reading  a  book,  she  to  join  her  husband,  the 
Argentine  retiring  at  once  with  a  diplomatic  salute. 
The  agent  appeared  at  my  elbow  like  a  ghost.  "  Now 
mark,"  he  said,  "  there  is  a  military  movement  going 
on.  You,  who  are  a  writer,  ought  to  note  these 
things.  The  Tuscan  has  retreated,  the  tenor  is 
held  in  reserve.  The  lady  is  manoeuvring  in  face  of 
the  enemy.  Oh,  by  Jove  !  they  played  it  on  me  yes- 
terday, but  they  shall  not  to-day."  In  fact,  the  lady 
was  coaxing  her  husband  most  outrageously ;  she 
passed  her  arm  through  his;  she  whispered  in  his 
ear;  she  seemed  to  ask  explanations  of  the  patent 
log.  And  the  face  of  the  long-haired  professor  was 
a  sight  to  see.  There  was  a  whole  system  of  phi- 
losophy there,  doubtless  of  old  date  with  him.  He 
half-closed  his  eyes  like  a  drowsy  cat,  and  twisting 
his  whole  face  to  one  side,  showed  the  tip  of  his 
tongue  with  a  leer  of  indescribable  facetiousness 
through  which  there  shone  all  the  while  a  flash  of 
mockery,  as  if  in  his  heart  he  were  laughing  at  her 
himself,  the  other,  the  others,  the  whole  world. 
Meanwhile  the  tenor  had  disappeared.  The  lady 
passed  her  hand  over  her  eyes  and  covered  with  her 
fan  an  ill-acted  yawn,  as  if  to  show  her  husband 
that  she  wished  to  go  below  and  have  a  nap.  "  Look 
out !  "  said  the  a^ent,  "  now  for  the  decisive  move- 

o  ' 

ment."     The  words  were  hardly  out  of  his  mouth 


i52  <Sm  Blue  Mater. 

when  the  lady  left  her  husband  and,  slowly,  with  a 
sleepy -looking  face,  crossed  the  deck  to  go  below. 
"  Ha ! "  said  the  agent,  "  she  has  chosen  her  time 
well ;  there  won't  be  so  much  as  a  dog  down  there 
in  that  oven,  but  there  's  a  heaven  above  us  all  the 
same."  And  down  he  went.  Not  one  of  these 
movements  had  escaped  that  rattlesnake  of  a  mother 
of  the  piano-player.  She  whispered  her  little  re- 
marks in  the  ear  of  her  neighbor,  the  lady  of  the 
brush,  and  both  rose  as  one  woman.  But  it  was  of 
no  use.  The  dear  Swiss  lady  came  up  again,  mask- 
ing her  vexation  with  a  sweet  smile  and  bringing  a 
book,  as  if  that  were  what  she  had  gone  down  for; 
and  two  minutes  later  up  came  the  tenor  by  another 
stairway,  sol-faing  and  looking  out  at  these  a  with  an 
indifference  that  meant  fury.  A  few  paces  behind 
him  came  the  agent,  filled  with  delight,  and  signing 
to  me  from  afar  with  open  hand  and  nose-touching 
thumb.  "  How  beautiful  the  sea  is  !  "  said  the 
tenor,  ranging  up  alongside  of  me. 

The  sea  was  detestable,  but  he  was  a  most  divert- 
ing character.  I  made  his  acquaintance  as  we  came 
up  with  the  Canaries,  and  had  chatted  with  him  in 
the  evening  two  or  three  times.  He  was  about 

CD 

thirty-five,  but  looked  younger ;  had  the  face  of  a 
tailor's  foreman,  little  blond  mustaches  twisted  up- 
wards, eyes  that  said,  "It  is  I  !"  affected  utterance, 
Almaviva  walk,  clothes  from  Bocconi  Brothers.  He 
looked  at  the  horizon  as  if  the  Atlantic  were  an  enor- 


H  fellow  ©cean,  153 

mous  pitful  of  applaud ers  calling  him  before  the 
curtain.  He  held  forth  upon  geography,  literature, 
politics,  and  art  with  a  kind  of  cunning  ease,  always 
on  the  brink  of  some  hideous  blunder,  and  stopping 
short  after  a  cautious  look  at  his  interlocutor.  In 
literature  and  politics  he  had  a  curious  trick.  All  of 
a  sudden,  while  talking,  he  would,  without  any  ap- 
parent pretext,  fix  his  eyes  on  the  horizon  and  sol- 
emnly exclaim,  "  William  Shakespeare  !  "  passing  his 
hand  over  his  forehead  as  if  in  thought  too  deep  for 
utterance ;  but  it  was  only  a  name  that  came  up  to 
the  surface  like  a  bubble  of  air ;  or,  perhaps,  the  talk 
would  fall  upon  some  historical  personage,  Napoleon 
I.,  for  example.  "  Ah  ! "  he  would  exclaim  with  a 
twist  of  his  face,  "  for  the  love  of  heaven,  don't  talk 
to  me  of  Napoleon  I.,"  as  if  he  had  within  his  own 
brain  a  mighty  treasure  of  original,  well-weighed,  im- 
mutable ideas  upon  the  subject  which  were  not  to 
be  called  in  question.  And  not  a  word  more  would 
he  say.  Finally,  to  sum  up  the  whole  vast  system 
of  his  ideas  and  intellectual  sympathies,  he  used  to 
remark,  "  I  keep  three  books  on  the  stand  by  my  bed 
at  night, — Dante,  Faust,  and  -  — ."  The  first  time 
he  said  the  Bible,  but  the  next  time  he  forgot  and 
mentioned  the  Mysteries  of  "  the  People  "  of  Eugene 
Sue.  On  board  ship,  however,  I  never  saw  any  book 
in  his  hand  except  The  Loves  of  the  Empress  Eugenie. 
One  last  trait :  He  said  he  was  a  volunteer  with 
Garibaldi ;  but  when  it  came  to  facts,  he  never  men- 


i54  ©n  3Blue  Mater. 

tioned  any  campaign  in  particular,  but  spoke  of  all 
those  wars  with  a  kind  of  misty  generality,  as  if 
they  belonged  to  remote  antiquity,  to  the  age  of 
fable.  On  the  whole,  a  jolly  fellow  enough.  He 
never  got  angry  except  when  speaking  of  a  certain 
Bolognese  impresario,  the  hatred  of  his  life,  as  it 
would  seem;  and  he  always  used  the  same  phrase, 
" I  '11  have  his  liver ! "  ( Glifarb  sputare  il cuore!)  On 
the  day  in  question  he  did  not  feel  so  much  like  it. 

After  two  o'clock  the  deck  was  left  to  itself.  The 
tenor  went  down  to  warble  at  the  piano,  the  pro- 
fessor went  on  the  midship-deck  to  hold  forth  upon 
science  to  the  "lower  orders,"  the  Argentines  to 
play  cards,  the  others  to  bathe,  to  sleep,  or  to  get 
their  things  off.  I  followed  that  day  the  young 
lady  from  Mestre,  as  she  went  with  her  aunt  to 
make  her  usual  visit  to  the  peasant  family,  carrying 
her  usual  little  parcel  of  fruit  and  sweetmeats  in 
her  hand.  I  could  perceive  the  instant  she  set  foot 
among  them  how  strong  a  hold  she  already  had 
upon  the  feelings  of  these  people.  The  roughest 
peasants  rose  to  their  feet  as  soon  as  they  saw  her, 
and  all  looked  hard  at  the  blue  veins  of  that  fine 
neck,  at  her  thin  hands,  and  her  larsre  black  cross 

O 

standing  out  upon  the  sea-green  dress,  which  marked 
no  curves  but  was  not  without  its  grace.  Not  a  trace 
of  any  evil  thought  was  to  be  seen  upon  the  counte- 
nance of  the  boldest  and  most  viperous  woman  who 
talked  of  her  when  she  had  passed.  And  it  was  re- 


&  fellow  ©ceatt  155 

spect  not  so  much  for  the  lady  as  for  the  sad  doom 
which  they  saw  written  in  her  face,  and  for  the 
sweet  resignation  with  which  she  bore  it,  without, 
at  the  same  time,  losing  the  kindness  and  innocent 
charm  which  is  born  of  a  happy  love  of  life.  One 
word  I  heard,  murmured  behind  her  as  she  passed, 
which  made  me  tremble  for  her,  should  she  have 
caught  it, — "  That 's  consumption."  But  it  did  not 
reach  her  ear.  Some  little  boys  came  towards  her, 
and  she  patted  their  cheeks  as  she  gave  them  almonds 
and  raisins.  An  emigrant  inadvertently  put  his  foot 
upon  the  skirt  of  her  dress  and  tore  it  from  the 
gathers.  While  it  was  being  set  to  rights  the  doctor 
came  up,  and  all  three  went  down  to  the  sick  bay. 

I  followed  them.  They  were  going  to  visit  the 
Piedmontese  contadino,  ill  of  pleurisy.  The  poor 
man  was  much  worse.  Stretched  there  in  his  dark 
berth,  with  his  long,  gray  beard,  which  made  him 
look  still  more  gaunt,  lie  was  like  a  corpse  lying 
in  a  coffin  from  which  one  of  the  sides  had  been 
taken  out.  As  the  young  lady,  whom  he  had  often 
seen  before,  came  near,  his  mouth  quivered  piteously, 
as  those  of  children  and  greatly  enfeebled  invalids 
do  when  they  are  going  to  cry.  And  he  murmured 
with  a  lump  in  his  throat:  A1  mi  rincress  per  me* 
field  ! — "  Ah,  my  poor  son ! " 

It  was  plain  that  these  words  affected  the  young 
lady  deeply.  She  replied  at  once,  with  assumed 
frankness,  but  in  a  broken  voice :  "  No,  no,  don't 


156  ©n  3Blue  Water. 

say  that.  You  '11  see  your  son.  You  are  better 
to-day.  Don't  lose  the  address.  Where  have 
you  put  it?  [It  was  in  his  coat-pocket  at  the  foot 
of  the  bed.]  Very  well.  The  doctor  will  see  to  it. 
Would  you  like  to  have  me  take  care  of  it  and  give 
it  you  when  you  get  well  and  reach  America  ?  Shall 
I  take  charge  of  it  ? " 

The  old  man  nodded,  Yes.  She  bent  down, 
felt  in  the  coat-pocket,  drew  out  the  little  packet, 
found  the  paper  which  she  knew  well,  folded  it 
with  great  care,  and  placed  it  in  a  handsome  snake- 
skin  case,  which  she  closed  and  put  in  her  pocket. 
The  sick  man  followed  all  these  movements  with 
the  greatest  interest  and  satisfaction,  and  then  mur- 
mured, in  a  thin  little  voice : 

11 A  re  trop  grassiosa,  trop  grassiosa" 

"  Cheer  up,"  she  said,  giving  him  her  hand.  "  I  '11 
come  again  soon.  Good-bye.  Courage  ! " 

The  old  man  took  her  hand  and  fervently  kissed 
it  several  times,  while  bi$£  tears  ran  down  his  face. 

O 

He  followed  her  with  his  eyes  to  the  door,  and  then 
let  his  head  drop  back  upon  the  pillow  in  utter  de- 
spair, as  if  he  were  never  to  raise  it  up  again. 

The  young  lady  went  with  her  aunt  on  deck 
again  and  moved  towards  her  friends,  the  family  of 
peasants,  who  were  packed  into  their  little  corner 
between  the  turkey-coop  and  the  great  hogshead 
like  a  nestful  of  birds.  But  they  had  given  that 
nutshell  of  a  place  a  sort  of  homelike  air  already 


H  fellow  ©cean,  157 

by  hanging  a  bit  of  looking-glass  on  the  cask,  and 
stretching  a  towel  to  keep  off  the  sun.  The  head 
of  one  of  the  twins  served  as  a  rest  for  the  father's 
two  hands,  and  the  hair  of  the  other  was  being  at- 
tended to  by  the  mother  who,  rounder  than  ever, 
wielded  a  fragment  of  fine-tooth  comb,  while  the 
girl  was  washing  a  handkerchief  in  a  little  pot  of 
water  placed  on  a  battered  trunk  by  way  of  table. 
As  the  young  lady  came  near  the  father  rose  and 
took  his  pipe  out  of  his  mouth,  while  the  whole  six 
faces  smiled.  I  heard  a  word  or  two. 

Sempre  ben  ? — "  Getting  on  nicely  ? " 

Come  Dio  vol, — "Yes,  thank  God," — said  the 
peasant.  Ma  la  ga  paura  die  glie  sugeda  prima  de 
arivar, — "  But  I  'm  afraid  it  will  happen  before  we 
get  in."  And  then  the  woman,  with  an  anxious 
face :  Oredela  ela,  parongina,  die  i  glie  fara  pagar 
anca  a  Ik  el  quarto  de  postof — "Do  you  think, 
padroncina,  that  they  will  make  us  pay  for  a  quarter- 
place  for  him  ? " 

It  must  have  been  a  very  funny  question,  for  I 
saw  for  the  first  time  a  smile  on  the  face  of  the 
young  lady,  instantly  suppressed,  however,  as  she 
signed  with  her  head  that  she  did  not  think  that 
they  would ;  then,  taking  a  kerchief  of  red  wool  out 
of  her  pocket  she  gave  it  to  the  child,  saying, 
Ciapa,  vissare,  ti  te  lo  mettem  sto  inverno-quando 
mi — "Take  this,  my  pretty,  you  can  wear  it  next 
winter, — when  I ." 


158  ©ii  Blue  Mater, 

But  what  in  the  world  was  going  on  overhead  ? 
The  sky  had  grown  dark  in  a  moment,  the  clouds 
settled  down  almost  upon  the  mastheads,  and  even- 
ing seemed  to  have  come  at  one  stride.  On  both 
sides  of  the  ship  nothing  was  seen  but  dense  clouds, 
and  a  little  bit  of  gray,  ruffled  sea  which  set  us  roll- 
ing violently  and  covered  the  deck  with  spray.  We 
all  thought  it  meant  a  gale,  but  the  officer  of  the 
watch  shouted,  from  the  bridge,  "  A  rain  squall ; 
below,  all  of  you ! "  He  had  hardly  spoken  when 
down  came  the  roaring  rain  in  bucketfuls,  flooding 

O  O 

the  deck  and  drenching  everyone.  Then  the  women 
all  began  to  scream ;  there  was  a  mad  flight  to  get 
under  cover,  a  splashing  through  streams  and  pools 
and  rivulets  of  water,  a  headlong  rush  for  the 
hatches,  as  if  the  ship  were  going  to  pieces.  But 
the  companion-ways  were  narrow,  and  there  was  a 
jam ;  there  were  furious  elbowings,  struggles  to  get 
in  first,  a  cursing  and  a  swearing  as  the  rain  in- 
creased and  sluiced  them  all  and  dashed  against  the 

O 

glazed  deckhouses,  soaking  and  washing  everything 
about.  The  hellish  confusion  made  me  think  with 
terror  what  would  be  the  consequences  of  a  panic  on 
board.  But  it  was  only  the  first  greeting  of  the 
torrid  zone,  of  that  great  irrigator  of  the  world  in 
which  we  had  been  sailing  for  two  days.  And  it 
lasted  but  a  few  moments.  The  gloomy  vault  of 
clouds  lifted  and,  breaking  away  here  and  there,  let 
in  upon  the  dark  waters,  still  lashed  in  places  with 


H  fellow  ©cean. 


159 


sheets  of  rain,  the  strangest  spots  of  light,  the  most 
wondrous  streaks,  livid,  white,  green,  golden,  giving 
the  ocean  the  appearance  as  of  many  seas  joined  to- 
gether, each  with  its  own  luminary, — a  weird  and 
sombre  image  of  a  world  thrown  into  confusion  as 
its  end  approaches. 


CHAPTER  IX 

CHARACTERS  IN  THE  STEERAGE 


HERE  were  more  rain  squalls  the 
next  day,  and,  thanks  to  one  of 
them,  I  had  an  opportunity,  for 
the  first  time,  of  speaking  with 
the  young  lady  from  Mestre,  by 

_____    whose   side    I   found    myself   in 

the  covered  way  on  the  starboard  side,  where,  already 
drenched  and  shivering  with  cold,  she  had  taken 
refuge  from  the  shower.  Her  first  words,  the  first 
play  of  her  features,  heard  and  seen  thus  close  at 
hand  in  the  midst  of  the  crowd  that  pressed  upon 
us,  revealed  her  nature  to  me  more  than  any  act  of 
her's  had  hitherto  done.  A  certain  quivering  of  her 
pale  lips  and  an  intense  trembling  in  her  voice 
showed  there  was  an  ardent  nature  beneath  her  com- 
posed and  gentle  demeanor;  deep  pity  for  human 
suffering,  the  sight  of  which  made  her  suffer  in  her 

O/  O 

turn,  and  a  real  love  for  those  who  suffered;  giving 
rise  to  some  idea  of  religious  socialism  which  was 


a 

160 


Characters  in  tbe  Steeraoe,  161 

confused  in  her  mind,  but  flamed  up  clear  in  her  heart 
and  consumed  her  being.  For  the  first  time  in  her 
life  she  saw  much  suffering  and  many  sorrows  in  a 
mass,  so  to  speak,  all  real,  palpitating,  within  her 
very  reach  ;  and  the  depths  of  her  soul  were  stirred. 
I  did  not  quite  follow  her  course  of  thought,  for, 
owing  to  weakness,  or  the  difficulty  of  expressing 
herself,  she  never  finished  her  sentences,  the  last  few 
words  of  which  were  lost  as  if  carried  away  by 
the  wind.  "  We  do  not  do  enough  for  those  who 
suffer,"  she  said,  "  and  yet — there  is  nothing  else  to 
do  in  the  world — there  it  all  is."  If  her  strength 
had  been  sufficient  she  would  most  certainly  have 
devoted  herself  to  some  mission  of  charity  until  she 
died ;  as  was  plainly  declared  by  the  expression  of 
her  delicate  mouth  and  her  resolute  brow,  lightly 
shadowed  from  time  to  time  by  the  thought  of 
human  selfishness  and  human  woe,  which  in  her 
short  life  she  must  have  rather  divined  than  realized. 
And  in  spite  of  wide  dissimilarity,  there  came  into 
my  rnind  as  I  gazed  upon  her  the  white  raised  face 
of  one  of  those  Nihilist  girls  which  Stepniak  paints, 
eaten  up  by  the  zeal  of  their  creed  and  ready  to 
die  for  it.  She  spoke  in  a  voice  of  inexpressible 
sweetness,  with  her  eyes  fixed  on  the  horizon,  while 
she  gently  fingered  the  black  cross  that  hung  at  her 
neck ;  and  the  alternate  gasps  of  her  infant-like 
breath  were  the  more  pitiful  when  contrasted  with 
the  mighty  life  which  the  ocean  wafted  into  her 


162  <§m  Blue  Mater, 

face.  Did  she  realize  her  condition  ?  I  judged  that 
she  did,  from  her  indifference  to  all  those  about 
her.  She  lived  as  if  in  another  world,  confounding 
one  fellow-traveller  with  another  and  asking  con- 
stantly, Who  ?  Which  ?  as  if  it  were  an  effort  to  re- 
member. And  was  she  really  resigned  ?  I  had  a 
chance  to  judge  of  this  a  short  time  after  when  she 
was  talking  with  the  beautiful  Genoese  girl  to  whom 
she  had  given  a  pretty  little  leathern  housewife  as  a 
present.  I  looked  in  her  eyes,  as  she  fastened  them 
upon  the  girl,  to  see  whether  that  resplendent  youth 
and  beauty  were  awakening  any  passing  sentiment 
of  envy  at  the  sad  contrast,  any  feeling  of  yearning 
or  of  pain.  None  whatever.  She  was  resigned  be- 
yond a  doubt.  Love  and  the  desire  of  life  had  gone 
before,  and  were  already  in  the  tomb. 

At  that  moment  I  heard  behind  me  a  brisk  rust- 
lino;  as  of  skirts,  and  a  musical  lau^h.     It  was  the 

O  O 

blonde  lady,  dressed  in  blue,  her  face  discreetly 
powdered,  and  fragrant  as  a  nosegay.  She  was 
coming  for  the  first  time  to  visit  the  fore-deck  ;  in 
company  with  the  first  officer,  --a  stout,  fresh- 
colored  'fellow,  a  couple  of  yards  high,  and  with 
whom  she  seemed  to  be  already  tolerably  familiar. 
She  passed  along,  chatting  gaily,  and  looking  about 
her;  but  it  was  plain  that  she  saw  exactly  nothing; 
that  for  her  forward  and  aft,  engine,  emigrants, 
wretchedness,  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  and  the  Mediter- 
ranean Sea  were  all  matters  that  concerned  her  not ; 


Gbaracters  in  tbe  Steerage,  163 

they  did  not  distract  her  for  a  single  instant  from  the 
gay  consciousness  of  being  a  pretty,  charming  woman 
in  the  free  exercise  of  her  function.  I  could  mark, 
too,  how  sharp  a  sense  the  men  of  the  "people" 
have  even  for  women  who  are  "gentle  folk."  They 
had  never  seen  her,  but  they  snuffed  her  from  afar, 
and  took  good  care,  the  sly  rogues,  not  to  move  as 
she  passed  that  her  blue  dress  might  brush  their 
knees.  They  made,  when  she  had  gone  by,  the 
unspellable  sound  with  tongue  and  lips,  that  one 
does  who  swallows  a  delicious  oyster;  they  kissed 
their  palms  with  a  meaning  laugh.  But  they  moved 
sullenly  out  of  the  way  for  the  lady  of  the  brush, 
who  came  behind  alone,  carrying  a  little  parcel. 
For  a  couple  of  days  she  had  taken  to  aping  the 
young  lady  from  Mestre,  and,  like  her,  would  give 
fruit  and  sugar  plums  to  the  children. 

But  alas  !  alas  !  she  looked,  with  her  sour  smile,  like 
a  schoolmistress,  and,  as  she  offered  the  goodies,  would 
keep  a  sharp  lookout  lest  anyone  should  touch  her. 
From  head  to  foot  she  was  the  poor  little  middle- 
class  nobody,  full  of  envy  of  those  above  her,  and 
of  scorn  for  those  below  her ;  ready  for  any  mean- 
ness, so  only  she  might  be  seen  with  a  marchesa,  and 
capable  of  taking  the  bread  out  of  her  children's 
mouths  so  that  she  might  sweep  along  the  sidewalk 
in  a  velvet  dress.  The  little  creatures  took  what 
she  offered,  but  the  looks  of  their  elders  expressed 
the  most  cordial  aversion.  As  my  eye  followed  her, 


KM  <§>n  36lue  Mater, 

moving  slowly  along  in  the  midst  of  the  press  I  saw 
that  "  decayed  gentlewoman "  of  the  third  class 
whom,  with  her  daughter,  the  commissary  had 
pointed  out  some  days  before ;  her  feeble  health 
now  feebler,  and  looking  most  pitiably  poor  in  her 
black  silk  dress,  all  soiled  and  torn.  There  are 
some  small  humiliations  in  misfortune  which  are 
worse  than  misfortune  itself.  Both  mother  and 
daughter  timidly,  after  much  hesitation,  and  looking 
about  them  as  if  ashamed,  went  to  the  fresh-water 
tank  and  bent  down  like  animals  at  a  trough,  to 
drink  from  the  iron  spigot  as  the  others  did ;  but, 
seeing  the  Swiss  lady  coming  that  way  again,  they 
drew  back  and,  with  downcast  looks,  disappeared 
in  the  throng.  Some  emiorants,  who  had  marked 

O  O 

this  scene,  laughed  a  loud,  mocking  laugh.  The 
blonde  lady  meanwhile,  at  a  sign  from  the  first 
officer,  stopped  to  look  at  the  Genoese,  whose  fame 
as  the  "  virtuous  beauty  "  had  no  doubt  reached  her 
ears.  She  seemed  to  think  the  girl  beautiful;  but 
I  saw  in  her  eye  an  expression  of  pity,  the  pity  with 
which  a  bold  and  fortunate  operator  would  regard  a 
rich  simpleton  who  was  keeping  a  splendid  capital 
idle  in  his  safe.  Then  she  moved  on,  saluting  with 

O 

a  wave  of  her  hand  her  husband,  who  was  above  on 
the  hurricane-deck  examining  the  structure  of  the 

O 

red  side-light. 

That  poor  Genoese  girl  !     The  commissary,  on  his 
way  to  look  at  a  broken  spigot,  told  me  a  pitiful 


Characters  in  tfoe  Steerage.  165 

story.  Around  that  good  and  beautiful  creature 
there  had  closed  a  circle  of  envious  aversion  which 
gave  her  no  peace.  All  the  aspirants  whom  she  had 
declined  to  look  at  or  had  repelled  with  her  disgust 
had  become  her  enemies,  and  her  firm  and  dignified 
manner  had  made  them  fairly  hate  her.  They  said 
she  was  too  stupid  for  anything  (stttpida  come  una 
scarpf(\  a  piece  of  bloodless  flesh,  all  hands  and  feet, 
—and  such  teeth  !  To  the  anger  of  the  men  was 
added  the  jealousy  of  the  women,  furious  at  seeing 
a  hundred  adoring  "  sapheads "  about  her.  The 
Bolognese,  especially,  and  the  two  opera  girls  looked 
as  if  they  would  like  to  boil  her  alive.  They  had 
begun  by  sarcastically  calling  her  "  the  princess  " ; 
then  they  had  said  that  that  n unlike  modesty  of  hers 
was  all  put  on,  and  finally  had  circulated  the  most 
atrocious  calumnies  regarding  her.  Impossible  to 
describe  the  foulness  of  the  talk  that  went  on,  the 
vileness  of  the  remarks  made  upon  her  person,  pro- 
voking insolent  laughs  whose  significance  there  was 
no  mistaking.  They  would  have  insulted  her  open- 
ly, perhaps  have  laid  violent  hands  upon  her,  for  no 
other  purpose  than  to  humiliate  her,  but  for  the 
authorities.  The  very  cook  was  furious,  and  showed 
at  the  window  of  his  stronghold  the  countenance  of 
an  offended  sultan.  For  two  or  three  days  the  little 
Tuscan  in  the  after-cabin  had  been  buzzing  about 
her,  and  had  at  last  got  into  conversation  with  her 
father;  whereon  all  that  scum  of  the  earth  had  said 


166  ©n  Blue  Water. 

it  was  a  bargain,  a  settled  matter,  but  suddenly  had 
ceased  their  talk,  and  that  without  anyone  knowing 
why.  The  only  one  who  remained  faithful,  in  love 
to  the  very  marrow  of  his  bones,  poor  fellow,  was 
that  weakly  youth  Avith  the  leathern  bag  around  his 
neck, — a  "limed  soul"  that  did  not  struggle  to  be 
free,  a  Modenese,  a  bookkeeper  by  occupation,  to 
whom  an  ugly,  red-haired,  pimply,  short-sighted 
creature  in  the  third  class  had  taken  an  open  fancy, 
but  he  would  not  look  at  her.  His  passion,  which 
had  almost  crazed  his  brain,  was  the  jest  of  every- 
one. They  brayed  out  heart-rending  sighs  behind 
his  back ;  they  sang : 

"  Too  small,  too  small 
To  make  love  art  thou  ! " 

and  all  the  rest  of  it;  but  he  was  so  dead  in  love 
that  he  took  no  heed,  staying  in  the  same  place  for 
hours,  his  elbow  on  his  knee  and  his  chin  in  his 
hand,  fastening  his  gaze  upon  her  as  in  an  ecstasy ; 
happy  when  those  clear  blue  eyes,  as  they  looked 
around,  encountered  his  own  by  chance.  He  was 
there  Avhile  the  commissary  was  talking  of  him,  im- 
movable, with  a  face  and  look  Avhich  showed  that 
for  one  word  he  would  have  given  bag,  pen,  pass- 
port, America,  the  universe.  It  was  pitiful  to  see. 
He  was  likely  to  lose  his  head  and  make  an  utter  ass 
of  himself  before  the  voyage  was  over — that  was 
clear. 


Gbaracters  in  tbe  Steerage.  167 

This  then  was  our  "  innamorato  " ;  a  kind  of  person 
never  lacking  on  board  ship,  the  commissary  told 
me ;  and  sometimes  there  is  a  variety  of  them,  men 
really  in  love,  that  is  to  say  ;  the  others  do  not  count. 
But  in  the  Galileo  there  was  quite  a  collection  of 
other  characters  still  more  queer  and  original,  each 
one  of  whom  had  in  those  twelve  days  come  to  the 
front  and  acquired  his  own  celebrity  in  the  little 
republic  of  the  fore-deck.  There  were  jovial  souls 
and  there  were  serious  men.  These  last  preferred 
the  forecastle  which  was  a  kind  of  Aventine  Mount, 
where  all  the  turbulent  and  atrabilious  spirits  got 
together.  The  most  popular  among  these  was  the 
old  Tuscan  in  the  green  jacket  who  had  shaken  his 
fist  at  Genoa  011  the  evening  of  our  sailing.  This 
man  was  a  born  devil.  From  morning  till  night  he 
harangued,  in  a  hoarse  voice,  his  threatening  fore- 
finger in  the  air;  and  his  following  increased  from 
day  to  day.  He  would  have  liked  to  raise  a  social 
revolution  on  board  the  Galileo;  he  inveighed 
against  the  signori  on  the  poop-deck,  urged  the 
passengers  to  protest  against  the  dirt  of  the  sleeping- 
places  and  the  uncleanness  of  the  food  ;  sometimes 
by  way  of  example  hurling  his  ration  from  him  and 
calling  down  vengeance  upon  the  cookery.  His 
audience  applauded  but  ate  their  food ;  while  he,  in 
a  f  ury,  cried  out  that  they  were  all  "  slaves "  and 
every  one  of  them  was  "bought." 

There  was,  however,  one  who  did  not  bow  down  be- 


i68 


©it  JBlue  Mater. 


fore  him,  a  little,  old,  dried-up  man,  with  a  black  tuft 
on  his  forehead  and  a  pair  of  black  eyes  like  a  hawk, 

who  said  he  was  a 
smuggler.  This  per- 
son chose,  likewise,  to 
cherish  the  reputation 
of  a  great  criminal, 
loaded  with  the  guilt 
of  a  thousand  myste- 
rious murders,  and 
ready  for  anything. 
Perhaps  no  more  than 
a  kind  of  Captain 
Fracasse  in  crime,  but 
skilful  in  playing  his 
part,  so  that  he  was 
universally  feared, 
though  he  had  not 
hurt  a  hair  of  any- 
body's head ;  and  the 
women  pointed  him 
out,  saying  he  had  a 
long  dagger  under  his 
jacket,  and  would  cer- 
tainly do  something 
dreadful  before  the 
voyage  was  over.  lie  walked  among  the  throng  with 
folded  arms  and  head  held  hi^h,  and  did  not  choose 

O 

that  anyone  should  fix  an  eye  upon  him.     If  anyone 


Gbaracters  in  tbe  Steerage.  169 

did  so  he  would  stop  and  stare  at  the  rash  man,  as  who 
should  say, "  Are  you  tired  of  your  life  ? "  But  from 
fear  or  prudence  they  all  turned  their  heads  another 
way.  This  pretence  was,  of  course,  necessary  to  his 
reputation  as  a  dangerous  man;  hut  beyond  it  he 
did  no  harm  to  a  living  soul,  and  entertained  for  the 
old  Tuscan  the  usual  scorn  of  the  warrior  for  the 
politician. 

The  third  in  the  triad  on  the  forecastle  was  that 
queer  fellow  of  a  mountebank  with  long  hair  and 
tattooed  arms,  whose  voice  no  man  had  heard,  so 
that  everyone  said  he  was  dumb.  This  character 
would  stand  for  five  hours  at  a  stretch  perfectly 
motionless  at  the  extreme  fore-part  of  the  ship,  his 
green  eyes  raised  to  heaven  as  if  he  were  gazing  at 
a  star  invisible  to  other  mortals,  and  profoundly 
immersed  in  superhuman  contemplations. 

Tbe  jolly  fellows,  on  the  contrary,  assembled  on 
the  midship-deck,  which  offered  more  space  for  buf- 
foonery, and  was  like  the  open  square  of  a  village ; 
a  lounging  place  convenient  for  groups  and  gossip. 
Up  here  in  a  corner  on  the  port  side  close  by  the 
bridge  there  was  chatting  and  uproar  from  rise  of 
morn  till  set  of  sun.  The  buffoon  of  the  company 
was  a  peasant  from  Monferrato,  the  one  who  had 
made  that  scandalous  surmise  about  the  leathern 
purse  of  the  Bologuese ;  a  quarrelsome  little  figure 
without  any  nose.  The  whole  third  class  knew  how 
he  had  lost  it — in  fact,  a  drunken  carabineer,1  whom 

1  Police  officer — so  called  :  partly  military,  partly  municipal. 


i;o  ©n  Blue  Mater. 

he,  reeling  ripe  himself,  had  provoked  one  evening 
in  the  street  of  his  village,  had  cut  it  off  with  a  blow 

O     ' 

of  his  sabre.  But  the  fun  of  it  all  was  that,  next 
morning,  hoping  to  make  something  out  of  this  nasal 
mutilation,  he  had  gone  to  the  authorities,  to  whom 
the  more  prudent  carabineer  had  carefully  refrained 
from  making  an}7  report,  and  had  been  rewarded  for 
his  trouble  with  much  summonsing  before  the  courts, 
several  days  in  jail,  and  a  fine  of  one  hundred  lire. 
This  fellow  had  mistaken  his  vocation.  He  was  a 
born  clown.  He  could  thrust  out  his  mouth  like  a 
beast's  muzzle;  he  danced  all  sorts  of  grotesque  steps 
of  his  own  invention  ;  he  mimicked  people  in  the 
most  amazing  way ;  and  when  any  officer  of  the  ship 
passed  by,  would  salute  him  with  a  mock  respect 
that  was  altogether  killing. 

Next  after  him  in  renown  was  a  little  man  with  a 
bald  head  and  a  huge  sty  on  one  eye ;  an  ex-porter, 
who  always  kept  near  him  a  cage  with  a  couple  of 
blackbirds,  of  which  he  took  great  care,  expecting  to 
sell  them  in  Buenos  Ayres  for  eighty  lire  apiece — a 
common  speculation  enough.  He  owed  his  popularity 
to  a  treasure  which  he  had  inherited  from  some  rela- 
tive, a  large  album  full  of  nasty  caricatures,  charades, 
and  anecdotes  which,  read  with  the  page  doubled, 
were  passages  from  the  lives  of  the  saints,  otherwise 
devilish  beastliness.  lie  always  had  around  him  a 
group  of  liquorish  dilettanti,  who  read  the  same  filth 
a  hundred  times  a  day,  rolling  over  the  benches  and 


172  ©n  Blue  Mater, 

laughing  until  they  cried, — while  he  held  his  head 
high,  like  an  applauded  actor,  and  was  happy. 

And  then  there  was  a  third,  a  cook  in  a  tavern ;  a 
very  usual  type  on  board  ship,  the  wiseacre  who  has 
been  to  America  and,  in  virtue  of  this,  assumes  a  kind 
of  learned  superiority  over  his  fellow-travellers,  ex- 
plains in  his  own  way  the  wonders  of  sea  and  sky, 
holds  forth  upon  naval  architecture,  talks  as  familiarly 
of  the  New  World  as  of  his  own  house,  lavishes  ad- 
vice right  and  left,  and  calls  everyone  who  does  not 
go  along  with  him  a  clodhopper  and  a  blockhead. 
The  commissary  came  upon  him  one  day  as,  apple  in 
hand,  he  was  uttering  explanatory  absurdities,  fit  to 
stop  the  ship,  about  the  rotation  of  the  earth.  Be- 
tween whiles  he  played  the  ocarina.1 

Finally,  there  was  a  Venetian  barber,  who  enjoyed 
a  proud  pre-eminence  from  his  ability  to  imitate  a  cur 
of  low  degree  (can  da  pagliaia — "  yaller  dog  ")  bay- 
ing the  moon  in  a  lamentable  howl  which  lacerated 
the  nerves  and  would  have  deceived  any  dog  in  Italy. 
But  then  every  specialist  there  had  been  unearthed 
and  forced  to  give  proof  of  his  skill ;  one  old  gar- 
dener, amongst  others,  would  squat  down  behind  a 
cattle  pen  and  imitate  the  furious  panting  of  one  for 
whom  I  cannot  waits  upon  I  would  with  unsurpass- 
able perfection ;  he  was  a  real  artist,  they  said,  and 
they  set  great  store  by  him.  They  played  at 
draughts,  at  cross  and  pile  (tit-tat-to),  at  lotto,  and 

1  Kind  of  flageolet  made  of  earthenware. 


Cbaracters  in  tbe  Steerage.  173 

they  sang  for  hours  together.  They  even  played  at 
bliiid-man's-buff  like  great  gray-headed  hobblede- 
hoys, and  at  hot  cockles  like  little  children.  The  grand 
spectacle,  however,  was  when  the  tattooed  mounte- 
bank, fired  with  professional  enthusiasm,  came  from 
forward  and  walked  about  on  his  hands  or  did  the 
wheel  or  the  serpent  trick,  amidst  a  tempest  of  ap- 
plause, his  countenance  all  the  while  quite  grave  and 
sad,  as  if  he  were  doing  penance ;  and  then  went 
back  where  he  came  from  without  a  word.  Still,  all 
this  merriment  looked  rather  forced  than  spontane- 
ous; these  men  seemed  to  seize  with  fury  upon  the 
slightest  occasion  to  stun  themselves  with  clatter 
as  when  one  gets  drunk  on  purpose  to  drive  away 
sorrowful  memories  and  grim  forebodings.  They 
would  throw  themselves,  a  hundred  at  a  time,  against 
the  bulwark,  or  rush  together  in  a  whirling  circle 
with  shouts  and  cries  and  whistling  and  cat-calls 
and  cock-a-doodle-dooing  that  was  heard  from,  one 

O 

end  of  the  ship  to  the  other,  making  the  very  officers 
look  round  at  them,  and  all  this  for  no  better  reason 
than  a  hat  blown  overboard  or  a  nose  blackened  by 
a  fall  against  the  coal  bunker.  And  when  an  un- 
protected girl  or  woman  passed  among  them  there 
was  a  clacking  of  tongues  and  a  chirruping  and  a 
general  exhibition  of  onomatopoeia  which  made  the 
unhappy  victim  take  to  her  heels  at  once.  The 
black  nurse  of  the  Brazilian  family,  above  all,  when 
she  went  to  her  place  in  the  third  class  to  eat  or 


174  ©n  Blue  Mater. 

sleep,  aroused,  with  her  white  eyeballs  and  her  grin- 
ning teeth,  such  a  chorus  of  brutal  love-strains  that 
it  was  like  the  yelling  of  an  excited  menagerie. 

And  we  of  the  first  class  had  our  little  ways  too. 
Would  there  have  been,  after  all,  any  very  great  dif- 
ference between  the  fore-deck  and  the  poop  ?  And 
if  the  varnish  of  culture  and  good  manners  had  been 
taken  off  from — those  who  had  it — how  easily  could 
we  have  matched  in  our  part  of  the  ship  the  types 
and  conversation  of  the  third  class.  It  is  quite  won- 
derful how  much  they  knew  of  us,  how  they  hit 
upon  each  one's  weak  points,  and  how  nearly  right 
they  were  in  their  gossip  about  us  behind  our  backs. 
It  all  came  round  to  us  again  in  one  way  or  another. 
They  knew  from  the  stewards  and  the  servants  some- 
thing of  the  character  and  habits  of  everyone,  and 
were  posted  as  to  our  daily  doings ;  just  as  those 
living  in  the  garrets  know  about  the  tenants  of 
the  handsome  lodgings  below.  What  they  did  not 
know  they  guessed,  and  they  made  their  remarks 
upon  everything.  They  gave  everyone  a  nickname, 
and  mimicked  everybody's  gait  and  voice.  Often 
enough,  when  walking  among  them,  we  would  turn 
suddenly  round  and  surprise  three  or  four  of  them 
winking  at  one  another,  or  composing  their  faces 
to  preternatural  seriousness  after  a  mocking  grin. 
These  were  our  Caudine  Forks. 

This  very  evening  the  whole  ship  was  delighted 
by  an  exquisite  joke  practised  upon  one  of  these 


Cbaracters  in  tbe  Steerage* 


175 


fellows,  a  third-class  passenger  who  had  paid  the 
difference  and  dined  in  the  second  cabin,  but  passed 
his  time  among  the  gossips  of  the  midship-deck. 
He  was  a  little  man,  neither  old  nor  young,  with  a 
face  as  wrinkled  as  a  roasted  apple ;  a  good  fellow 
enough,  dressed  like  a  verger,  and  giving  himself 
the  airs  of  a  well-to-do  citizen,  but  simple  and  credu- 
lous as  a  child.  He  was  much  coaxed  and  petted 
as  being  the  possessor  of  a  case  of  wine  which  he 
was  taking  to  his  brother 
in  America,  and  which  he 
guarded  most  jeal- 
ously as  a  sacred 
treasure  against  the 
many  snares  that 
were  laid  for  it. 
That  morning,  go- 
ing on  deck,  his  at- 
tention had  been 
attracted  by  the  tel- 
egraphic dial  which 
sends  signals  from 

O 

the  bridge  to  the 
engine-room.  The 
third  officer,  who 
dined  with  him  at 

"tjfs  attention  bal>  been  attracteti 

table,  being  near  by,  t>«  tbe  telegraphic  t>tai." 

was  asked  what  that  bit  of  mechanism  might  be. 
"  That  is  the  telegraph,"  said  the  other. 


1 76  <§>n  3Blue  Mater, 

The  little  man  was  amazed.  "  Tlie  telegraph  ! " 
he  exclaimed,  "  to  telegraph  with  !  " 

The  officer  caught  on  in  a  moment.  He  was  a 
Genoese,  as  sharp  as  a  steel  trap  (fno  come  la  ti'iam\ 
a  masterly  practical  joker,  and  always  quite  serious. 

"  To  telegraph,"  he  said,  "  of  course. — What  for  ? 
Why,  the  fact  is  that  by  means  of  a  travelling  wire 
we  are  always  in  connection  with  the  great  hollows 
under  the  ocean,  and  we  send  news  to  the  owners 
every  four  hours." 

The  little  man   expressed   his   admiration,    and 
then,  as  an  idea  occurred  to  him,  timidly  remarked : 

"  Ah  !  yes !  I  suppose  that  it  is  used  only  for  the 
ship." 

"  As  a  special  favor,"  said  the  officer,  "  passengers 
are  sometimes  allowed  to  use  it." 

"  Oh,  in  that  case,"  said  the  other  eagerly,  "  I 
should  like  to  send  a  despatch  to  my  wife." 

He  hesitated  a  moment  as  he  thought  of  the  ex- 
pense, but  was  told  that  exception  would  be  made 
in  his  favor,  and  he  should  pay  only  the  usual  tariff. 
So  he  wrote  the  despatch  :  "  Am  well ;  sea  smooth  ; 
half-way  ;  many  kisses,"  etc.,  etc.  And  asked  if  his 
wife  could  answer.  Certainly  she  could  answer. 
"  Because  I  know,"  he  went  on, "  she  would  go  with- 
out her  dinner  rather  than  not  send  me  a  word." 
And  was  going  to  pay  ;  but  the  officer  said  he  must 
see  how  much  it  would  all  come  to  ;  he  might  pay 
that  afternoon,  about  four  o'clock,  when  he  came 
back  to  see  if  there  were  any  answer. 


Cbaracters  in  tbe  Steerage.  177 

The  poor  fellow  went  away  well  pleased,  leaving 
the  paper.  Came  back  at  three — nothing.  At  half- 
past,  still  nothing.  But  at  four  there  were  twelve 
blessed  words :  "  Thanks ;  well ;  God  bless  you ;  I 
pray  for  you ;  come  back  soon." 

Overjoyed  he  reads  the  despatch  twice  over, 
kisses  the  paper,  wants  to  pay.  "Poh,  poh,"  said 
the  officer,  "  it  is  not  worth  mentioning.  I  '11  have 
it  go  in  with  the  others.  Just  open  one  of  those 
bottles  of  yours,  and  that  will  make  it  square." 
"  Why  not.  By  all  means,  we  '11  open  one  or  two 
and  have  a  good  time.  What  a  thing  science  is,  and 
what  things  it  can  do  ! "  In  short,  a  couple  of 
bottles  were  opened  at  table  and  absorbed ;  but  the 
poor  dupe  got  so  very  happy  that  he  opened  a  third, 
a  fourth,  and  so  on,  until  the  case,  up  to  that  mo- 
ment so  carefully  guarded,  was  quite  empty.  The 
news  meanwhile  had  spread ;  and  when  he  came 
out  on  deck  for  a  constitutional,  excited,  flushed, 
triumphant,  he  was  received  with  a  carnival  of  yells. 
At  first  he  did  not  make  out  why  they  were  making 
fun  of  him ;  but  when  he  did  understand,  instead  of 
being  thunderstruck,  as  they  expected,  he  laughed 
for  pure  pity  of  their  ignorance.  "  Fools,  dolts, 
idiots,  noodles,  asses  ! "  he  shouted,  as  he  turned 
away  towards  his  friends  of  the  second  cabin,  happy 
and  quite  unmoved  in  the  midst  of  a  perfect  chorus 
of  barking  and  mewing  and  chirping  and  crowing. 

And  this  scene  occurred  just  before  we  saw  one  of 


178  ©it  JBlue  Mater, 

the  most  amazing  sights  which  sea  and  sky  can  offer 
in  the  regions  of  the  tropics. 

The  thick  veil  of  clouds  which  had  enveloped  us 
for  three  days  had  been  rent  a  short  time  before  sun- 
set, and  the  sun  went  down  into  the  sea  like  an 
enormous  ruby,  sending  along  the  tranquil  waters  a 
long  streak  of  purple  like  a  torrent  of  lava  which 
was  rushing  to  burn  the  Galileo  up.  And  when  his 
disk  touched  the  horizon,  the  clouds,  fired  with 
brilliant  colors,  began  to  move  majestically  ;  present- 
ing shape  after  shape  so  wondrous  that  we  stood 
transfixed  ;  and,  as  each  dream-like  contour  vanished, 
cried  out,  "Alas  !  that  it  should  go  !"  There  were 
mountains  of  gold,  with  rivers  of  blood  that  fell  from 
their  over-hanging  crags  ;  huge  fountains  of  molten 
metal ;  mighty  canopies  lighted  from  below  by  a 
gleam  so  glorious  that  as  one  gazed,  the  mind  was 
troubled  with  a  half-sense  of  terror;  one  almost 
expected  to  see  the  last  vision  of  Dante,1  as: 

"Within  the  deep  and  luminous  subsistence 
Of  the  High  Light  appeared  to  us  three  circles, 
Of  threefold  color  and  of  one  dimension  " 

seeming  to  be  "  painted  with  our  effigy  "  and  before 
which 

"  Vigor  failed  the  lofty  fantasy." 

1  Paradiso,  xxxiii.,  115  et  seq.     Longfellow's  Trans. 


CHAPTER   X 


THE    WOMEN  S    CABIN 


ND  still  ocean,  ocean,  ocean !  At 
times  one  could  almost  imagine 
that  the  land  had  disappeared 
from  the  face  of  the  earth,  and 
that  we  were  to  go  on  sailing, 
sailing,  and  never  touch  it  more. 
The  water  was  not  yellow  as  it  was  the  day  before, 
but  seemed  one  huge  sheet  of  lead  ;  while  the  sky 
was  white,  and  the  sun  was  white,  and  everything 
on  board  our  ship  scorched  us  as  we  touched  it. 
But  the  bakino;  heat  was  not  the  worst.  There  was 

o 

a  waft  of  foul  and  pestilential  air  from  the  men's 
cabin  which,  rising  through  the  open  hatchway, 
reached  us  on  the  after-deck ; — a  dreadful  stench  that 
moved  deep  compassion  as  one  thought  that  it  came 
from  human  beings,  and  hideous  terror  as  one  consid- 
ered what  would  happen  if  disease  broke  out.  And 
yet  we  were  told  that  there  were  no  more  passengers 
than  the  law  allows.  Each  had  his  allotted  number 

179 


i8o  <S>n  Blue  Mater. 

of  cubic  feet.  But  what  has  that  to  do  with  it  if 
one  cannot  breathe  ?  The  law  is  wrong.  It  allows 
on  board  the  Italian  steamers  a  whole  third  more  of 
the  tonnage  to  be  occupied  than  in  the  English  and 
American  ships ;  and  it  does  not  have  its  officers  con- 
stantly by  to  see  that  the  report  of  "  all  right"  made 
by  the  police  at  sailing  is  justified  throughout  the 
voyage ;  that  there  be  not,  for  instance,  at  another 
port,  more  passengers  shipped  than  there  is  room  for ; 
that  healthy  passengers  be  not  put  into  rooms  re- 
served for  the  sick;  or  that  sleeping-places  be  not 
improvised  on  the  open  deck.  How  much  there  is 
still  to  be  done  for  those  noble  boats  that  gleam  like 
princes'  palaces  as  they  sail  out  of  harbor  !  In  most 
of  them  the  foremast  hands  and  the  firemen  are 
lodged  like  beasts ;  the  sick  bay  is  a  dog  hole ;  the 
places  that  should  be  cleanest  turn  the  stomach  ;  and 
for  fifteen  hundred  steerage  passengers  there  is — not 
one  bath.  Those  hygienists  who  pretend  to  settle 
the  space  that  each  man  ought  to  have,  may  say 
what  they  like ;  human  flesh  cannot  be  crowded 
like  that,  and  it  is  no  excuse  to  ur^e  that  things  are 

O  O 

far  better  than  in  former  times.  The  case,  now,  to- 
day, is  one  that  moves  to  pity  and  to  indignation. 

Meanwhile,  as  the  thermometer  went  up,  the  com- 
missary's work  increased  and  his  annoyances  multi- 
plied. The  chief est  of  these  was  the  care  of  the 
women's  cabin,  into  which  he  had  to  pass,  night  and 
day,  to  keep  order,  and  to  see  after  cleanliness.  In 


tlbe  Momen's  Cabin.  181 

fact,  without  taking  his  work  into  account  at  all, 
the  mere  sight  of  what  he  had  to  look  at  would  have 
been  enough  to  disgust  any  man  with  the  task  this 
gentleman  had  undertaken.  Imagine  two  stories 
below  decks,  like  two  huge  entresols,  about  as  light 
as  an  ordinary  cellar;  in  each  story  three  tiers  of 
berths  all  round  about  and  down  the  middle;  and, 
what  with  women  and  children,  weaned  and  un- 
weaned,  about  four  hundred  people  to  occupy  each 
story,  the  thermometer  standing  at  90°  Fahrenheit ! 
Here,  in  a  lower  berth  would  be  a  woman  far  gone 
in  the  family  way,  with  a  two  -  years  -  old  child. 
Above  her  an  old  woman  of  seventy,  and  in  the 
upper  berth  a  girl  in  the  flower  of  her  age.  Then  a 
Calabrese  cafona,  or  herdswoman,  next  her  a  poor 
lady  who  had  fallen  into  poverty ;  farther  on  a  city 
adventuress  who  used  cosmetics  under  cover  of  the 
darkness ;  and  not  far  off  a  God  -  fearing  young 
peasant  woman  who  slept  with  her  rosary  in  her 
hand.  Going  down  there  by  night  there  were  seen 
hanging  out  of  the  bed-places  gray  heads  and  blonde 
tresses,  nursing  children  rolled  up  in  their  bandages, 
the  horrible  shins  of  the  old,  and  the  shapely  limbs 
of  the  young ;  a  foul  heap  of  shawls  and  gowns  and 
petticoats  of  all  imaginable  and  possible  colors, 
natural  and  acquired, — like  banners  of  the  unnum- 
bered hosts  of  wretchedness ;  while  on  the  deck  were 
orderless  piles  of  boots  and  shoes  and  wooden  san- 
dals and  gaiters  and  slippers  and  stockings,  which — 


1 82  <§>n  Blue  Mater. 

it  was  frightful  to  remember — were  only  so  many 
heaps  of  quarrel  and  dispute  all  ready  for  the  mor- 
row at  the  hour  of  rising.  There  were  many  who 
did  not  sleep. 

The  commissary  went  about  amid  an  unbroken 
hum  of  talk,  varied  by  suppressed  laughs,  by  wails, 
by  the  sighs  of  girls  and  the  groans  of  women  over- 
come by  the  heat ;  and  the  murmurs  of  poor  old 
creatures  who,  unable  to  close  an  eye,  were  mum- 
bling Pater-Nosters  and  Ave  Marias.  At  times  he 
was  called  aside  by  a  suppressed  voice  and  had  to 
bend  over  or  rise  on  tiptoe  to  hear  a  complaint 
or  a  protest.  "  Signer  Commissario,"  said  one  in 
his  ear,  "please  do  something  —  that  girl  in  No. 
25  is  a  scandal  and  a  shame.  I  Ve  two  little  boys 
down  here ;  do  make  her  behave  herself  and  remem- 
ber where  she  is."  Another  begged  him  to  tell 
those  above  her  not  to  stick  their  feet  out,  and  to  be 
less  foul  in  their  talk.  The  old  women  in  particular 
beset  him  upon  the  point  of  morals  ;  and  denounced 
certain  culprits  furiously,  but  in  the  greatest  con- 
fidence. "  Think  a  moment,  Signor  Commissario ; 
you  others  do  not  see  anything  at  all,  saving  your 
presence.  There  's  that  blonde  girl  in  No.  77 ;  she 
goes  up  on  deck  every  night  at  one  o'clock  and 
does  not  come  down  aimin  for  hours.  It  is  a  shame. 

O 

It  ought  to  be  put  a  stop  to."  Some  wished 
to  move  because  of  an  asthmatic  neighbor;  or 
(reasonably  enough  in  this  case)  because  that  girl 


Women's  Cabin.  183 

near  by  smelt  so  strongly  of  musk  that  it  could  not 
be  endured.  And  the  commissary  had  to  soothe 
them  :  "All  right,  we  '11  see  about  it — Don't  mind — 
Go  to  sleep."  Then,  moving  on  with  his  lantern,  he 
would  see  mothers  slumbering  with  their  children  in 
their  arms  and  breathing  heavily,  their  faces  con- 
torted by  a  sad  or  a  frightful  dream  ;  young  bosoms 
left  uncovered ;  toothless  mouths  gaping  wide  as  if 
yelling  in  their  sleep;  and  glistening,  smiling  eyes 
fixed  upon  him  in  the  half-light.  Sometimes  in  the 
passage-way  he  would  come  upon  a  face  that  looked 
suspicious  and  must  be  questioned.  "  Where  are 
you  going  at  this  time  of  night  ? "  "  Up  on  deck  (of 
course)  for  a  purpose."  "  What,  with  eyes  glisten- 
ing like  that !  I  '11  give  you  five  minutes  and  then 
I  '11  feel  your  pulse."  Farther  on  he  stopped  to  give 
a  warning :  "  I  tell  you  for  the  last  time,  if  you  do 
not  change  to-morrow  I  '11 — Are  n't  you  ashamed  ! " 
And  the  poor  creature  would  reply  with  what  was 
sometimes  the  miserable  truth  :  "  Alas  !  I  have  no 
other ! " 

And  so  from  one  aisle  to  another,  now  putting 
back  on  the  pillow  the  head  of  a  naked  infant 
that  was  hanging  out  of  the  berth,  now  quieting 
a  couple  of  old  tattling  (bracone, — prying)  crones, 
who  were  quarrelling  under  their  breath  about  some 
difficulty  arisen  that  morning  as  to  a  partition  of 
biscuit ;  and  a  few  paces  farther  on  cheering  up  a 
poor  lone  creature  who  was  weeping  on  her  pillow 


184  ©n  Blue  Mater. 

oppressed  with  a  melancholy  forboding  that  she 
would  not  meet  her  husband  in  America.  By  dint 
of  passing  and  repassing  among  these  people  he  had 
come  to  know  each  one's  way  of  sleeping.  The  burly 
Bolognese  who  lay  upon  her  side  almost  touched  the 
berth  above  her;  the  pretty  peasant  of  Capracotta 
curled  herself  up  like  a  squirrel ;  those  two  jades  of 
singing  girls  slept  with  all  four  limbs  spread  out, 
and  the  "  decayed  lady "  kept  that  poor  black  silk 
dress  spread  over  her  like  the  pall  of  her  past 
fortune.  The  fairest  and  most  tranquil  even  in 
sleep  was  the  Genoese,  who  lay  supine  and  covered 
from  head  to  foot  like  the  statue  of  a  queen  upon  a 
tomb  of  marble.  But  the  sight  of  those  gray  un- 
happy heads,  of  all  those  mothers,  homeless  and 
lacking  bread,  asleep  on  the  wide  sea  thousands  of 
miles  alike  from  the  country  they  had  left  and  the 
country  they  were  seeking,  kept  every  sensual  idea 
far  from  his  mind,  even  in  view  of  the  much  expos- 
ure, conscious  or  unconscious,  which  he  was  forced 
to  behold.  He  went  about  down  there  like  a  doctor 
in  a  hospital,  as  impregnable  to  temptation  as  that 
poor  old  jumping-jack  of  a  sailor  who  carried  the 
lantern  for  him.  Unhappy  hunchback  !  For  him, 
not  protected  by  the  dignity  of  his  office,  the  task 
was  far  harder ;  especially  when  the  commissary 
went  away,  and  left  him  alone  in  the  place  with  the 
bucket  of  water  and  the  dipper, — at  the  beck  and 
call  of  every  one  who  wished  to  drink.  Vien  qua 


Ube  Momen's  Cabin.  185 

vecio — A  mi,  omm  dipersi — Dessedet  pivel  I  Acqua  ! 
—^Egua  ! — Eva  !  —  Da  lev  !  —  Da  haver  !  They 
would  all  quarrel  right  before  him,  setting  rules  and 
regulations  at  naught,  and  laughing  him  to  scorn. 
When  he  called  them  to  order  they  stunned  him 
with  chatter,  woman-fashion,  and  some  of  them 
turned  their  backs  upon  him  with  scant  politeness. 
At  getting-up  time  especially,  when  the  question  was 
whose  was  which  in  all  that  snarl  of  things,  they 
drove  him  mad,  completely ;  and,  fleeing  as  from  a 
swarm  of  wasps  he  took  refuge  on  deck  panting  and 
perspiring.  That  very  morning,  at  the  fated  hour, 
I  found  him  at  the  door  of  the  cabin  utterly  de- 
moralized. "  Well ! "  I  said,  "  they  make  your  life  a 
burden  to  you,  don't  they  ? "  "  All  !  "  he  replied, 
spitting  out  his  quid  with  fury,  "No  ne posso  cm!" 
"  Is  it  so  every  voyage  ? "  I  asked.  "  No  !  the  Lord 
be  thanked  ! "  he  said.  There  were  voyages  and 
voyages.  Sometimes  it  was  a  cargo  of  right  good 
women.  Sometimes,  as  this  trip  for  example,  a  Ve 
na  raff  eg  a  de  donne  maleduchce1  a  real  car  ego  d"1- 
agidenti  !  Then  resuming  his  philosophical  calm  and 
raising  his  forefinger  he  whispered  confidentially  in 
my  ear:  Scia  sente  ( stia  a  sentire ) .  Scia  no  piggie 
mogge!  (non  prenda  moglie), — "  Mark  me,  don't 
you  get  married  !  "  And  so,  turning  his  hump  upon 
me,  he  went  his  way. 

1  Una  raffica  di  donne  maleducate, — literally  a  squall  of  ill-conditioned 
women. 


1 86  ©n  Blue  Mater, 

That  very  morning,  too,  there  had  come  to  pass 
in  the  women's  cabin  a  most  scandalous  thing,  of 
which  I  did  not  hear  until  later.  I  stood  with  the 
commissary  on  the  bridge  to  watch  the  great  noon 
jaw-exercise  (ballo  del  denti).  This  was  like  what 
one  sees  on  saints'  holidays  in  the  country  where  a 
hundred  families  take  their  food  out  in  a  meadow  in 
the  open  air;  a  hum  and  bustle  as  of  an  encamp- 
ment; numberless  groups  of  men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren, sitting,  kneeling,  squatting  in  a  thousand  differ- 
ent ways,  above,  below,  on  every  projection  and  in 
every  corner ;  their  plates  in  their  hands,  between 
their  knees,  between  their  feet;  their  heads  covered 
with  handkerchiefs,  aprons,  paper  caps,  with  their 
up-turned  skirts,  even  with  baskets,  to  protect  them 
against  the  blazing  sun  ;  and  in  midst  of  these 
groups,  between  the  canteen  and  the  kitchens,  an 
eager  running  to  and  fro  of  numberless  capi-mncio 
(heads  of  messes)  with  loaves  under  their  arms,  pots 
and  wooden  bowls  in  their  hands,  and  followed  by  a 
thousand  eyes,  beckoned  by  a  thousand  hands,  apos- 
trophized by  a  thousand  tongues.  Beside  the  com- 
missary was  the  Garibaldian,  regarding  group  after 
group  with  slow,  unkindly  glance,  and  on  his  right 
the  young  lady  from  Mestre,  leaning  on  the  railing, 
both  intently  gazing  at  the  Genoese  girl  who  sat  on 
the  deck  below.  She  was  cutting  up  the  meat  for 
her  little  brother,  pouring  out  drink  for  her  father, 
and  handing  this  thing  or  that  to  a  couple  of  other 


Momen's  Cabin.  187 

women  and  a  little  boy  who  belonged  to  her  rancho. 
As  graceful  as  ever,  but  not  as  calm.  She  ate  nothing 
and  her  hands  trembled. 

The  young  lady  remarked  that  her  eyes  were  red ; 
and,  supposing  that  she  might  have  been  crying, 
asked  the  commissary  if  he  knew  why. 

He  knew  perfectly  well,  and  told  us  all  about  it. 
From  that  vipers'  nest  of  envious  hatred  which  had 
been  hissing  round  about  her  for  several  days,  one 
head  had  at  last  arisen,  and  had  stung  her  to  the 
quick.  Going  back  into  the  cabin  that  morning, 
after  taking  her  little  brother  on  deck,  she  had 
found  a  crowd  of  women  around  her  berth,  to  which 
a  slip  of  paper  had  been  stuck  with  a  lump  of 
moistened  bread  crumb.  It  had  been  torn  from  a 
dirty  newspaper,  and  had  been  scrawled  over  in  black 
chalk  and  in  large  characters  with  a  dozen  words 
or  so.  She  had  hardly  read  them  when  she  put  her 
hands  to  her  face  and  burst  out  into  violent  weeping. 
The  words  were  crude,  cruel  adjectives ;  not  to  be 
written ;  hardly  to  be  imagined.  Then  the  women, 
who  had  never  once  thought  of  taking  down  the 
paper,  had  tried  to  comfort  her  after  their  fashion ; 
and  one  of  them,  on  the  ,part  of  a  third,  had  whis- 
pered in  her  ear  the  name  of  the  culprit, — a  vile,  un- 
clean, little  wretch,  who  had  stolen  in  and  tacked 
up  that  horrible  stuff  at  a  moment  when  there  was 
hardly  anyone  below.  Not  so  quickly,  however,  as 
to  escape  the  sharp  eyes  of  a  little  fellow  who  seemed 


1 88  <§>n  Blue  Mater. 

to  be  asleep,  but  was  broad  awake,  and  duly  told 
his  mother  all  about  it.  "Take  the  paper  to  the 
captain,"  the  woman  had  said,  "have  the  commis- 
sary send  for  her — they  '11  put  her  in  irons — they  '11 
put  her  in  the  pillory  on  deck.  She  '11  be  tried  for 
it  when  she  gets  on  shore  in  America."  Then  the  poor 
girl  had  taken  down  the  paper,  sobbing,  and  waited 
until  her  slanderer  should  appear.  She  came  down, 
sure  enough,  a  short  time  after ;  and  was  no  less  a 
person  than  that  blear-eyed,  red-faced  creature  who 
had  taken  a  fancy  to  the  little  bookkeeper,  and  was 
as  jealous  as  any  animal.  At  the  very  first  sound  of 
"  There  she  is ! "  the  Genoese  had  run  towards  her, 
followed  by  the  gossips,  all  eager  for  a  scene.  The 
creature  turned  pale,  but  raised  her  head  defiantly, 
nevertheless.  And  the  poor  girl  only  held  out  the 
paper  to  her,  saying,  in  a  trembling  voice :  E  ben,  cose 
v'Jio  facto  ? — "  What  have  I  ever  done  to  you  ? "  The 
quickness  with  which  the  other  seized  and  tore  up 
the  corpus  delicti  was  an  involuntary  confession 
which  made  denial  worse  than  useless.  The  Geno- 
ese, without  another  word,  had  gone  on  deck,  weep- 
ing and  quite  overcome,  but  without  complaining  to 
anyone.  The  commissary,  informed  of  the  matter, 
had  sent  for  the  culprit,  who  swore  through  thick 
and  thin  (colle  mani  e  col  piedi)  that  she  was  inno- 
cent ;  so  all  he  could  do  was  to  threaten  to  put  her 
in  irons  and  say,  that  the  next  time  he  would  send 
her  down  into  the  hold  to  be  gnawed  by  the  rats. 


TKHomen's  Cabin.  189 

The  young  lady  from  Mestre,  who  had  listened  to 
all  this  without  taking  her  eyes  off  the  girl,  repeated 
slowly  to  herself  and  in  her  Venetian  accent,  "  E  ben, 
cosa  v'Jio  facto  f  "  And  her  eyes  glistened  with  tears. 

The  commissary  had  gathered  some  information 
about  the  girl  and  her  family.  She  was  from  Le- 
vanto.  Her  father,  who  kept  some  kind  of  a  shop, 
had  not  done  well,  and  had  determined  to  go  to 
America,  on  the  invitation  of  a  relative  there  who 
was  getting  on ;  but,  as  he  had  not  a  soldo,  he  was 
obliged  to  defer  his  departure  for  a  year,  while  the 
daughter  put  by  the  money  for  the  journey,  centime 
by  centime ;  selling  all  her  trinkets ;  helping  to 
nurse  a  sick  German  lady  by  night,  and  ironing  at 
the  baths  by  day.  A  large  black  mark  which  she 
had  on  one  hand,  and  which  was  visible  from  where 
we  were,  was  no  doubt  the  result  of  a  burn. 

At  that  moment,  by  chance,  or  otherwise,  she 
raised  her  head ;  and,  seeing  at  once  that  we  were 
talking  of  her,  blushed  deeply ;  but,  reassured  by  a 
kind  look  from  the  young  lady,  fixed  her  large  blue 
eyes  upon  her  and  smiled.  Then  bending  her  head 
over  her  brother  there  was  nothing  of  her  to  be  seen 
but  her  golden  tresses  and  her  fair,  blushing  neck. 

The  young  lady  touched  the  arm  of  the  Graribal- 
dian  with  her  fan ;  and,  pointing  to  the  girl,  said,  in 
her  sweet,  sad  voice,  "  That  is  virtue  !  " 

This  threw  light  for  me  upon  the  kind  of  talk 
these  two  held  together  and  the  usual  outcome  of  it. 


IQO  <S>n  Blue  Mater. 

I  was  curious  to  see  what  effect  she  might  have  pro- 
duced thus  far  upon  her  interlocutor,  and  looked 
round  to  see  his  face ;  but  he  had  already  turned 
away  and  fixed  his  gaze  upon  the  sea;  while  the 
whole  third  class,  rising  on  tiptoe  as  at  the  word  of 
command,  were  doing  the  same,  amid  loud  murmurs. 
There  was  a  sail  on  the  horizon  to  the  risrht.  The 

o 

officer  on  watch  had  signalled  her  some  time  ago. 
There  was  nothing  to  be  seen  but  a  little  white  spot, 
trapezium-shaped,  and  faintly  colored  by  a  ray  of 
the  sun  in  the  midst  of  gray  immensity.  A  far-off 
squall  of  rain,  making  a  black  background,  gave  it 
a  wondrous  whiteness,  but  made  it  look  all  the  more 
piteous  as  if  the  fury  of  the  ocean  were  threatening 
that  ship  alone.  And  it  is  impossible  to  describe 
the  life,  the  sudden  gayety  which  that  little  image  of 
humanity  aroused  in  the  midst  of  our  boundless  soli- 
tude;— as  if  all  at  once  we  had  got  back  into  in- 
habited regions.  The  officer  sent  for  the  fla^s  of  the 
~  ~ 

nautical  alphabet  and  focused  his  glass.  When  we 
were  near,  the  sailing  ship  dipped  her  flag  and  the 
Galileo  returned  the  salute. 

Then  ensued  between  the  ship  and  ourselves  a 
hasty  dialogue  which  the  officer  translated  into 
words  for  us ;  and  which  the  emigrants  followed 
with  their  eyes  as  if  they  understood. 

It  was  an  Italian  ship,  becalmed  near  the  equator. 

The  first  tiling  she  told  us  was  the  name  of  the 

O 

owner — Antonio  Pa^auetti. 

O 


Women's  Cabin,  191 

Then  :  From  Valparaiso,  bound  for  Genoa. 

How  many  days  out  ? 

Sixty. 

How  many  days  becalmed? 

Eighteen. 

Quello  pittin  I  (Qiiel  poco  ! )  "  All  that  time  ! " 
exclaimed  the  officer. 

Then  the  other :  Pray  report  us  to  our  agent  at 
Montevideo.  No  damage — all  well. 

Need  anything? 

No,  thank  you. 

Buon  viaggio  I 

Buon  viaggio  I 

How  large,  how  swift,  how  cheerful  our  Galileo 
appeared  compared  with  that  little  moveless  ship, 
which  had,  perhaps,  a  crew  of  ten  or  twelve  men, 
and  was  condemned  to  float  there,  like  a  dead  thing, 
who  knows  for  how  long,  beneath  the  terrible  sun  of 
the  Equator !  With  a  kind  of  pity,  we  saw  her 
grow  smaller  and  smaller,  become  once  more  a  white 
spot  and  then  disappear  below  the  horizon  ;  but  our 
pity  was  a  little  selfish  ;  the  kind  of  pity  which  first- 
class  travellers  in  a  thundering  express  train  feel 
for  a  one-horse  carriage  floundering  wearily  along 
through  the  rain  and  mud.  And  from  this  little 
meeting  alone  there  arose  a  current  of  good-humor 
from  stem  to  stern,  which  lasted  until  evening. 

But  this  day  was  the  day  of  events.  At  dinner, 
before  sitting  clown,  the  captain  said,  aloud,  "Scignori, 


192 


Qn  Blue  Mater, 


we  have  another  passenger  on  board."  There  were 
some  that  did  not  understand.  "A  fine  boy,"  he 
went  on,  "  only  one  hundred  and  ten  minutes  old." 

We  all  laughed  and  commented  and  wished  the 
little  fellow  luck.  From  a  slight  blush  that  passed 
over  the  face  of  the  young  lady  from  Mestre,  we  per- 
ceived that  the  mother  must  be  that  peasant  woman 
from  her  district. 

"  He  was  born  in  the  northern  hemisphere,"  the 
captain  concluded.  "  He  will  be  baptized  in  the 
southern.  We  cross  the  Line  to-morrow. 


CHAPTER  XI 


CEOSSING    THE     LINE 


HE  day  after,  from  early  morning 
on,  nothing  was  talked  of  in  the 
forward  part  of  the  ship,  but  the 
new  baby  and  the  crossing  of  the 
Equator ;  the  Aquatore,  the  Iqua- 
tore,  the  Quatore,  the  Quatuore, 

;  for  they  mangled  the  word  in  a 


as  they  called  it 
hundred  ways. 

It  was  the  women,  principally,  who  talked  about 
the  birth ;  all  most  eager  to  know  how  the  baby 
would  be  baptized ;  who  would  be  the  godfather 
and  the  godmother — gentle-folk,  as  usual, — they  sur- 
mised. Would  the  tall  Neapolitan  christen  it,  or  one 
of  the  two  clericals  in  the  second  cabin,  or  the  friar. 
And  where ;  as  there  was  neither  chapel  nor  altar. — 
And  the  presents. — All  these  matters  in  the  narrow 
life  on  board  ship  became  as  important  as  affairs  of 
state,  and  I  was  told  by  the  commissary  that  the 
peasant  woman  from  Mestre  was  the  marlc  of  im- 
13  193 


194  ©n  JBlue  TKDlater, 

mense  envy  on  the  part  of  those  likely  soon  to  follow 
her  example ;  for  it  is  part  of  the  code  of  sea-courtesy 
to  pay  special  regard  to  lying-in  women.  The  other 
ladies,  therefore,  seeing  cups  of  broth  and  legs  of 
fowls,  and  glasses  of  Marsala  going  about,  could  not 
but  remember  with  some  bitterness  that  no  such 
good  fortune  would  be  theirs  on  land.  "  What  it  is 
to  be  lucky  ! "  they  exclaimed.  Some  were  really 
quite  put  out  about  it. 

As  to  the  Equator,  everybody  talked  of  that.  But 
in  order  properly  to  understand  what  impression  the 
sea  really  made  upon  all  these  people,  we  must  go 
back  a  little.  In  the  first  place  it  disgusted  them. 
Ignorance  has  no  admiration  for  the  sea.  It  has  no 
thought  to  inscribe  upon  that  huge  blank  page,  and 
mere  immensity  is  without  beauty  save  for  those 
who  think.  I  do  not  remember  hearing  so  much  as 
a  single  admiring  exclamation  about  the  ocean  from 

O  O 

a  single  emigrant.  When  they  look  on  all  that  wa- 
ter they  are  invariably  impressed  by  the  first  idea 
which  it  raises  in  every  human  being;  they  regard 
it  as  the  element  that  drowns.  I  was  able  to  assure 
myself,  almost  from  the  moment  of  leaving  the 
Straits,  that  for  the  greater  part  of  these  people  that 
mighty  ocean  was  a  fraud.  They  saw,  namely,  no 
wider  a  stretch  of  water  than  on  the  Mediterranean, 
whereas  they  had  all  supposed  that,  on  coming  out- 
side, their  horizon  would  be  indefinitely  extended  ;  as 
happens  when  we  go  up  from  a  hill  to  a  mountain 


Crossing  tbe  %fne*  195 

top.  Nor  for  this  reason  alone.  In  the  mind  of  the 
lower  orders  there  is  always  connected  with  the  sea 
a  lingering  trace  of  those  old  notions  coming  down 
from  antiquity  and  from  the  Middle  Ages;  and 
though  they  may  not  have  thought  to  see  winged 
monsters,  broken  a  mile  in  circuit,  and  singing  fish, 
many  did  suppose  they  were  to  behold  sea-serpents, 
huge  polypi,  fights  between  whales  and  sword-fish, 
and  waves  like  mountains ;  but  finding  calm  water, 
and  seeing  never  so  much  as  the  back  fin  of  a  shark 
in  a  fortnight's  sailing,  they  shrugged  their  shoulders 
and  said,  "  I  don't  see  anything  about  this  sea  more 
than  any  other  sea."  As  to  feeling  curiosity  re- 
garding other  matters  connected  with  it  or  finding 
pleasure  in  them,  they  cannot.  They  either  know 
nothing  at  all  about  them,  or  misunderstand  what 
they  hear,  or  simply  do  not  believe. 

I  noticed  that  the  talk  we  held  on  the  after-deck 
about  the  ocean,  about  navigation,  about  different 
countries,  all  naturally  suggested  by  our  geograph- 
ical position,  and  changing,  so  to  speak,  with  the 
latitude,  was  passed  from  class  to  class  and  from 
mouth  to  mouth ;  and  found  an  echo,  a  day  or 
two  later,  in  the  gossip  of  the  forecastle  just  as 
happens  in  a  city  or  village.  The  officers  brought 
it  back  to  us  piecemeal  as  they  chanced  to  hear 
it  in  passing.  And  it  is  amazing  what  strange 
transformations  our  accounts  and  scientific  obser- 
vations underwent  in  this  little  tour.  They  spoke 


196  ©n  Blue  Mater, 

in  the  third  class  of  Atlantis,  of  which  we  were 
talking  while  in  the  latitude  of  the  Sargasso  Sea,  as 
of  a  world  that  had  disappeared  not  many  years  ago 
and  which  some  of  us  declared  we  had  seen.  On  the 
parallel  of  Seuegambia  the  talk  was  of  negroes ;  and 
the  emigrants  declared  that  the  Galileo  steamed  at 
full  speed  to  get  by  the  coast  where  a  tribe  of  terri- 
ble savages  were  in  the  habit  of  giving  chase  to  ships 
in  order  to  devour  the  passengers ; — and  sometimes 
succeeded.  As  to  the  Equator,  there  were  those  who 
predicted  there  a  heat  as  of  an  oven  by  day ;  a  heat 
that  was  to  melt  all  the  candles  and  soften  the  wax 
on  the  letters ;  a  sun  so  hot  as  to  boil  the  brains  in 
the  skull  and  bring  on  sunstrokes  by  the  dozen.  But 
strangest  of  all  it  was  to  find  that  this  passing  from 
one  hemisphere  to  another,  which  might  have  con- 
vinced them  of  the  rotundity  of  the  earth,  furnished 
many,  on  the  contrary,  with  an  argument  against  it, 
confirming  them  in  their  old  unbelief;  for  did  they 
not  see  with  their  own  eyes  that  all  was  a  flat  plain  ! 
And  even  those  who  were  convinced  that  the  world 
was  round  were  disgusted  to  find  that  on  passing  the 
Line  the  ship  did  not,  as  they  expected,  begin  to  de- 
scend and  move  round  the  o^lobe  like  an  ant  around 

O 

an  apple.  In  the  course  of  the  morning  while  the 
husband  of  the  Swiss  lady  (gifted  with  what  some 
erreat  man  calls  the  most  incurable  of  all  possible 
stupidity,  that  which  is  contracted  from  books)  was 
explaining  the  Equator  to  a  group  of  emigrants  in 


"Explaining  tbe  Equator  to  a  group  of  emigrants  in  iDiotically;  scientific  phraseology."" 


ig8  ©n  Blue  Mater. 

idiotically  scientific  phraseology  which  they  could 
not  understand  : — the  electric  heat  generator  of  the 
globe,  the  evaporation  register  of  the  two  hemis- 
pheres, the  heart  of  the  mighty  main  where  blood  is 
changed ; — his  hearers  looked  up  and  round  and  about 
with  curiosity  and  interest;  but  not  seeing  anything 
unusual,  glowered  at  him  as  who  should  say,  "  That 's 
enough,  we  are  not  fools  ! "  But  what  interested 
them  most  of  all  was  that  they  had  heard  a  day  or 
two  before  how,  on  crossing  the  Equator,  new  stars 
would  be  seen,  and  that  one  of  these,  Alpha  of  the 
Centaur,  was  of  all  the  stars  the  nearest  to  the  earth. 
They  thought  perhaps  it  would  be  as  big  as  the 
moon.  From  early  morning  of  the  much-expected 
day,  and  in  full  sunlight,  men  and  women  kept  an 
eye  on  the  heavens  so  as  not  to  miss  the  miracles. 
One  woman  asked  the  commissary  whether  in  the 
new  world  they  were  about  to  enter,  the  sun  and  the 
moon  would  be  the  same  as  they  had  been  accus- 
tomed to.  What  was  that  line,  that  straight  mark 
(riga),  that  divided  the  earth  into  two  parts  ?  Was 
it  true  that  no  one  would  have  the  correct  time 
there  ?  And  was  it  true  that  in  the  year  when  one 
went  to  America  a  season  was  lost,  and  what  became 
of  that  season  ? 

The  commissary  tried  to  set  the  matter  forth, 
but  some  paid  no  attention  whatever  to  the  ex- 
planation, they  had  asked  for ;  as  if  that  were 
time  lost ;  or  else  brought  the  whole  force  of  their 

/  O 


Crossing  tbe  %tne.  199 

minds  to  bear  upon  what  he  said  in  the  hope  of  com- 
prehending it,  but  at  last  gave  it  up  with  a  gesture 
of  despair.  The  conclusion  reached  by  most  of  them 
was  a  strong  suspicion  that  all  these  wonders  were 
nothing  but  a  parcel  of  stuff  got  off  by  the  sig- 
uori  to  make  a  show  of  learning ;  or  at  all  events 
that  these  explanations  were  made  out  of  whole 
cloth  by  persons  who  knew  no  more  about  it  than 
anyone  else.  A  large  majority  would  rather  have 
believed  in  the  three  legendary  monks  of  Asia  who 

O  */ 

have  for  fifteen  hundred  years  been  walking  straight 
forward  to  find  the  place  where  the  sun  rises.  It  was 
not,  indeed,  inspiriting  to  reflect  that  a  thousand  per- 
haps out  of  those  sixteen  hundred  citizens  of  one  of 
the  most  civilized  countries  of  Europe  had  no  broader 
or  more  correct  views  about  the  earth  and  the  heavens 
than  an  equal  number  of  their  own  class  would  have 
had  five  hundred  years  ago  ;  and  that,  after  all,  it  may 
be  that  in  this  world  there  is  a  certain  irreducible 
quantity  of  ignorance  which,  though  kept  in  bounds 
and  shaped  in  a  hundred  ways,  like  a  mass  of  water, 
cannot  be  lessened  in  amount. 

Be  that  as  it  may,  the  crossing  of  the  Equator  was 
a  holiday  for  everybody  ;  that  the  more  because  of  a 
special  dole  of  three  litres  of  wine  per  rancio  which 
had  been  announced,  and  because  the  captain  had 
given  orders  to  open  the  hatches  and  let  everyone 
get  at  his  baggage.  It  was  a  great  treat  for  them  to 
have  out  some  fresh  things  in  place  of  their  old  rags, 


200  ©n  Blue  Mater. 

so  miserably  used  up  by  the  rains  of  the  tropics.  And, 
more  even  than  this,  the  announcement  of  fireworks 
put  the  boys  and  girls  in  a  fever  of  expectation.  The 
important  operation  of  matutinal  ablution  was  per- 
formed with  unusual  vigor;  and  at  breakfast  time  the 
young  women  were  seen  with  new  kerchiefs  on  their 
heads  and  fresh  ribbons  on  their  bosoms ;  the  mam- 
mas with  hair  brushed  much  more  sedulously  than 
usual ;  the  men  with  amazing  cravats,  shaven  faces, 
clean  shirts,  and  a  good  deal  of  the  dirt  scrubbed  off 
their  necks.  It  was  like  a  crowd  on  a  holiday.  The 
women  out  of  respect  to  the  new  saint  did  not  work, 
and  most  of  the  men,  gathered  in  large  talkative 
groups,  gave  premonitory  tokens  of  the  grand  times 
they  meant  to  have  that  evening  with  their  wine. 
Many,  meanwhile,  were  thronging  round  the  caboose 
to  make  timely  interest  for  some  bits  from  the  first- 
class  cabin,  and  even  in  the  third-class  kitchen  there 
was  a  movement,  an  unusual  agitation,  calculated  to 
induce  a  suspicion  that  contraband  traffic  in  eatables 
was  going  on.  Two  heavy  showers  that  fell  at  an 
hour's  interval  only  served  to  heighten  the  good 
humor  of  the  multitude,  for  the  sky  cleared,  and  the 
sea,  rolling  in  long,  smooth  billows,  now  blue,  now 
violet,  seemed  to  promise  not  to  disturb  the  festivities. 
And  there  was  feasting  for  us  also — commencing, 
for  me,  right  after  breakfast  in  the  first  officer's  state- 
room,where  I  passed  a  delightful  hour  in  company  with 
two  other  officers  and  the  Marsigliese,  drinking  good 


Crossing  tbe  1/ine,  201 

champagne — thanks  to  a  discussion  about  James 
Watt.  For,  speaking  of  the  ill  hap  of  inventors, 
the  Marsigliese  rashly  remarked  that  Watt  had  died 
in  poverty.  The  first  officer  denied  this,  saying  that 
he  had  died  wealthy  and  surrounded  by  illustrious 
friends.  "  Dans  la  miser  e,  monsieur  !  Dans  V  indi- 
gence la  plus  aff reuse  !  "  "  Rich  !  I  assure  you,  rich  ! " 
"  Sans  le  sou  !  Sans  le  sou  !  "  So  there  was  a  bet ; 
settled  beyond  appeal  by  reference  to  U  Histoire  de 
la  Machine  a  Vzpeur,  a  copy  of  which  was  on  board ; 
—written  as  chance  would  have  it  by  a  Marseillais. 
And  the  author  most  unceremoniously  refuted  his 
fellow-citizen.  Good-natured  originals,  these  three 
officers,  not  excepting  the  clever  dark-complexioned 
hero  of  the  telegraphic  despatch.  All  younger  in 
mind  than  might  have  been  expected  from  their  age, 
and  of  a  certain  hermit-like  simplicity  rarely  seen 
even  among  hermits.  Each  had  some  study  or  some 
art  with  which  to  beguile  the  time  on  those  long 
voyages.  The  first  officer  was  studying  German,  the 
second  was  a  marine  painter,  the  third  had  lately 
begun  to  learn  the  flute ;  and  each  had  an  endless 
fund  of  stories  about  his  voyages,  which  he  told 
slowly  in  a  peculiar  way ;  recounting  the  most  as- 
tounding things  in  the  most  natural  way  in  the  world 
as  people  do  whose  lot  it  is  to  pass  their  lives  among 
the  wildest  and  most  adventurous  of  the  human  race, 
when  exceptional  circumstances  afford  these  the  full- 
est scope  for  thought  and  action.  They  had  made 


202 


<S>n  Blue  Mater, 


voyages  full  of  incident  when  the  record  of  births 
and  deaths  was  constantly  being  added  to ;  they  had 
been  wearied  of  their  lives  because  of  quarantine ; 


"  TTbe  scconb  officer  wae  a  marine  painter." 

they  had  stood  watch  in  nights  of  storm  fit  to  turn 
the  hair  gray ;  they  had  seen  suffering,  intrigue,  ter- 


ror;  there  had  been  on  board  families  of  gypsies; 
faces  unlike  any  other  faces.  And  very  curious  was 
the  confusion  or  rather  lack  of  connection  in  their 
ideas  regarding  the  politics  of  the  two  countries  be- 
tween which  they  were  always  passing.  When  they 
reached  Genoa  they  were  a  couple  of  months  behind 
hand  in  Italian  matters ;  and  before  they  could  catch 
up  with  these  they  set  out  again  for  the  Argentine — 
reaching  it  once  more  after  a  fifty-days  fast  from  all 
its  affairs.  But  strangest  of  all  was  their  attitude 
toward  their  own  families.  The  first  officer  amused 
us  mightily,  setting  forth,  glass  in  hand,  how  he  had 
been  married  a  year  and  a  half,  and  was  like  one 
married  a  month  or  so  before.  He  had  left  Genoa  a 
week  after  the  wedding.  Since  that  time  had  seen 
his  wife  at  intervals  of  two  months,  and  that  for  such 
short  periods  that  the  two  had  had  no  time  to 
become  intimate ;  so  that  when  he  went  home  he 
was  received  with  emotion  and  treated  with  a  sort 
of  modest  respect  and  delicacy,  almost  as  if  he  were 
a  stranger.  The  honeymoon  never  came  to  an  end. 
He  even  showed  us  the  likeness  of  his  wife  as  if  ex- 
hibiting, in  confidence,  the  photograph  of  a  young 
lady  to  whom  he  was  paying  court.  "  Type  Genois!  " 
said  the  Marsigliese  as  he  looked  at  it.  "  But  she  is 
from  Palermo ! "  "  Pas  possible  !  "  What  a  roar ! 
Such  a  roar  that  this  time  he  had  to  pretend  he  was 
jesting. 

All  were  in  good  spirits,  though  the  captain  had 


204  ®n  Blue  Mater. 

given  out  that  there  was  to  be  no  ducking  of  the 
passengers  who  were  crossing  the  line  for  the  first 
time.  A  nuisance,  he  said  it  was,  and  always  made 
trouble.  Moreover,  there  were  no  persons  who  were 
proper  subjects  for  that  sort  of  thing.  Even  the  Geno- 
ese stroked  his  clothes-brush  beard  with  an  air  less 
bored  than  usual.  He  would  stop,  from  time  to  time, 
one  passenger  after  another,  fix  his  single  eye  upon 
him  and  solemnly  enunciate,  "Chicken  breasts  in 
Madeira !  "  He  had  extorted  a  whole  batch  of  se- 
crets from  the  cook,  and  declared  that  there  was  to 
be  a  splendid  dinner — and  speeches.  The  agent, 
with  whom  I  took  a  turn  or  two,  said  the  Marsiofliese 

O 

was  to  propose  a  toast — he  had  heard  him  rehears- 
ing it  in  his  state-room.  And  he  told  me,  moreover, 
that  the  evening  before  there  had  been  a  scene.  That 
viprous-tongued  mother  of  the  piano  player,  namely, 
having  hinted  to  the  so-called '"  thief"  that  he  would 
do  well  to  contradict  the  slanders  that  were  going 
about  regarding  him,  this  gentleman  had  been  to 
the  captain,  loudly  demanding  to  know  what  these 
slanders  were,  and  threatening  sword  and  pistol. 
But  it  seems  that,  on  earnest  entreaty,  he  had  prom- 
ised to  be  quiet  until  we  got  into  the  next  hemis- 
phere. We  went  on  deck  and  found  that  detestable 
spitfire  apparently  much  pleased  at  having  at  last 
succeeded  in  raising  a  disturbance.  And  we  both 

O 

remarked  an  unusual  animation  in  the  dull  face  of 
her  daughter,  like  the  reflection  of  some  secret  com- 


Crossing  tbe  Xine.  205 

placency ;  but  it  was  in  vain  that  the  agent,  sus- 
pecting some  more  scissors'  work,  looked  round  for 
the  cause  with  his  long,  searching  glance.  As  we 
passed  the  pantry,  there  were  the  bride  and  bride- 
groom drinking  rosolio  and  water.  The  agent  bowed, 
and  the  young  gentleman  modestly  remarked  :  "  We 
are  having  a  little  celebration  over  the  Equator." 
"  H'm,"  said  the  agent  rather  sharply,  "  I  think  you 
have  a  little  celebration  over  all  the  parallels," 
whereon  the  pair  hastily  concealed  their  faces  in 
their  glasses.  Then  we  went  to  have  a  drop  of 
Chartreuse  at  the  door  of  the  "  tamer's  "  room.  This 
lady  received  her  friends  with  swimming  eyes,  she 
felt  so  kindly ;  and  declared  she  wished  the  trip 
would  last  a  year  ;  such  capital  company,  so  well 
bred,  so  polite,  so  pleasant — a  whole  string,  in  fact? 
of  honeyed  phrases  which  had,  I  am  afraid,  their  rise 
in  the  many  many-colored  glasses  she  had  sipped 
during  the  day.  Thence  to  the  deck,  where  we  found 
something  new  ;  the  Argentine  lady,  queen  of  the 
ship,  with  her  court  of  admirers  about  her,  in  a 
vanilla-colored  dress  which  set  off  her  warm,  florid, 
Creole  complexion  to  a  marvel,  and  all  radiant  as  if 
she  were  glad  to  get  back  to  her  own  half  of  the 
world ;  and  the  Swiss  lady  promenading  with  her 
old  friend,  the  deputy,  though  nobody  had  seen 
when  or  how  she  had  managed  to  make  it  up  with 
him.  A  half-hour  of  her  bald,  uujointed  chat,  all 
little  rose-colored  bits  of  nonsense  and  silly  laughing, 


206  <§m  Blue  Mater. 

like  a  slightly  tipsy  serving  girl,  convinced  me  that 
she  was  not  ill  pleased,  after  all,  to  put  her  little, 
white  foot  back  into  the  Parliament  of  Buenos 
Ay  res.  And  her  husband,  too,  seemed  well  pleased 
at  the  result  of  his  professional  excursions  among  the 
emigrants;  for  he  was  seen  with  his  spectacles  fixed 
upon  an  outspread  chart  getting  new  geographical 
notions  from  the  first  officer.  In  all  eyes  there 
appeared  to  beam  a  kind  of  confused  glimmer  of 
hope  such  as  is  seen  in  people's  faces  on  New  Year's 
Eve;  as  if  they  believed  that  better  fortune  was 
awaiting  them  in  the  other  hemisphere  than  had 
attended  them  in  this. 

Our  cheerfulness  was  still  greater  at  dinner,  where 
all  chatted  eagerly  like  a  great  tableful  of  good 
friends — save  only  and  excepting  the  Garibaldian, 
and  the  lady  of  the  brush,  who,  apparently  for  no 
other  purpose  than  to  vex  her  husband,  held  her 
tongue  and  ate  nothing.  And  we  had,  moreover, 
the  agreeable  surprise  of  hearing  the  Brazilian  pair, 
who,  drawn  into  talk  by  the  Argentines,  and  gradu- 
ally aroused  by  love  of  country,  described,  with  a 
noble  eloquence  that  amazed  us  all,  the  beauty  of 
their  native  land,  from  the  great  bay  of  Rio  Janeiro, 
crowned  with  siiinir-loaf  mountains  and  set  thick 

O 

with  islands  of  palm  trees  and  gigantic  ferns,  to  the 
vast  forests,  like  cathedral  colonnades,  close-crowded, 
endless,  dark,  alive  with  apes  and  panthers,  with 
liights  of  parrots  green  and  red,  with  overhanging 


Grossing  tbe  %ine.  207 

clouds  of  floating  gems  and  winged  flowers  and  fire- 
flies without  number.  The  conversation  branched 
out  upon  this  theme,  and  all  who  had  been  in  Brazil 
began  to  recount  what  they  had  seen,  all  speaking 
at  once,  and  the  Brazilian  fauna  and  flora  were  ex- 
hausted, and  tapirs  and  crocodiles  and  mighty  rivers 
passed  in  review ;  huge  toads  that  bark,  monstrous 
bats  that  suck  the  blood  of  horses,  and  horrible 
serpents  that  suck  the  breasts  of  women,  and  frogs 
that  sing  in  the  tree-tops,  and  tortoises  two  yards 
long,  and  enormous  ants  of  St.  Paul,  which  the  na- 
tives fry  and  eat.  And  as  they  added  harmonious 
mimicry  to  their  descriptions,  there  was  such  a  min- 
gled clamor  of  roaring  and  bellowing,  and  cackling 
and  hissing,  that  one  seemed  in  the  midst  of  a  trop- 
ical forest,  and  felt  at  times  a  sense  of  horror.  The 
only  ones  that  took  no  heed  were  the  bride  and 
groom,  who,  profiting  by  the  confusion,  gently  passed 
their  arms  around  each  other's  waists,  under  the 
burning  gaze  of  the  piano  player,  and  the  blonde 
Swiss  lady,  who  dealt  out  sparkling  glances  to  the 
Argentine,  the  Tuscan,  the  tenor,  the  Peruvian,  with 
a  freedom  that  was,  perhaps,  a  little  too  evident,  so 
that  the  captain  could  not  refrain  from  his  warning 
phrase :  Quella  scignoa  a  me  comenqa  a  angoscid  ("  I 
shall  not  be  able  to  endure  that  lady  much  longer.") 
But  he  was  soothed  by  the  toast  of  the  Marsigliese, 
who  rose  up,  swelled  out  his  Patagonian  chest,  and, 
raising  his  goblet  of  champagne,  said  in  solemn  tone : 


zos  ©n  Blue  Mater. 

"  Je  hois  a  la  sante  de  notre  brave  Commandant  .  .  . 
a  la  Societe  de  Navigation  .  .  .  a  I'  Italic,  Mes- 
sieurs" All  applauded  save  only  the  mill-owner, 
and  I  pardoned  him  in  that  hour  the  hash  he  made 
of  my  native  language,  and  which  he  thought  he 
made  of  my  fellow-citizens. 

We  rose  from  the  table  and  went  on  the  hurricane 
deck,  preceded  by  the  third  officer  carrying  an  arm- 
ful of  rockets,  Catharine  wheels,  and  Roman  candles. 
There  was  hardly  room  for  us  all,  and  I  was  shoved 
over  to  the  port-side  in  front  of  the  commissary,  and 
right  between  the  "  scapegallows  "  and  the  "Direc- 
tor of  the  Society-for-no-more-bad-smell ing-cesspools." 
The  bow  was  already  crowded,  but  as  the  sky  was 
covered  with  a  dense  cloud  and  the  three  lanterns, 
red,  white,  and  green,  which  burned  like  three  great 
eyes,  at  either  side  of  the  ship  and  at  the  mast-head, 
gave  but  a  faint  light,  all  that  mass  of  people  were 
in  the  dark,  and  from  that  darkness  there  floated  up 
a  hundred  confused  sounds  of  drinking  sonsrs,  of 

O  O     ' 

women  laughing,  and  of  children  crying,  making  the 
multitude  seem  ten  times  as  lar^e.  It  was  like  bein^ 

O  O 

on  the  roof  of  the  Town  Hall  when  a  carnival  demon- 
stration is  going  on  against  the  Syndic.  As  the  first 
Bengal  Ii<j4it  went  off  there  was  a  burst  of  vivas, 

O  O 

and  sixteen  hundred  faces  were  lighted  up ;  a  vast 
mass  of  people  standing  on  the  hatches,  on  the  bul- 
warks, on  the  top  of  the  deck-house,  on  the  live-stock 
pens,  astride  of  the  backstays,  on  the  shrouds,  stand- 


Crossing  tbe  Xine,  209 

ing  up  on  chairs,  on  the  bitts,  on  casks,  on  the  deck- 
troughs,  everywhere ;  not  an  inch  of  the  deck  could 
be  seen,  and  as  the  outlines  of  the  ship  were  con- 
cealed by  human  forms,  all  this  throng  of  persons 
seemed  suspended  over  the  sea  like  a  crowd  of  spec- 
tres. In  midst  of  an  admiring  silence  we  heard  a 
mocking  voice  or  two :  0-o-o-oJi !  Baciccia  !  Dagh 
on  taj — Cadla  monsu  Tasca  !  Then  a  great  silence, 
and  the  rush  of  the  rocket  was  heard,  and  the  throb 
of  the  engine.  Showers  of  fire  fell  upon  the  glassy 
sea,  unruffled  by  a  breath  of  wind  ;  the  rockets  burst 
and  vanished  in  the  vast,  dark  heavens,  noiseless  as 
if  in  vacuum.  At  every  shower  of  fiery  light  I  saw 
in  the  crowd  some  well-known  countenance.  Now 
it  was  the  bold  face  of  the  Bolognese  standing  high 
above  her  neighbors ;  now  the  intense  look  of  the 
poor  bookkeeper;  now  the  negress,  the  nurse  of  the 
Brazilian  family,  surrounded  by  eager  faces  ;  farther 
down  the  round  visage  of  the  peasant  woman  from 
Capracotta ;  near  the  slaughter-house  the  impassible 
face  of  the  friar;  and  far  forward  the  mysteripus 
mask  of  the  mountebank.  Here  and  there  were  seen 
couples  \vhich  the  sudden  illumination  forced  quickly 
to  move  into  more  conventional  positions,  while  sup- 
pressed giggles  and  reproving  words  and  little  shrieks 
broke  out  every  now  and  then,  to  show  that  a  good 
deal  was  going  on  in  the  way  of  bold  pinching  and 
persistent  pulling  about.  "  This  evening,"  said  the 
commissary,  "  that  poor  old  hunchback  will  have  his 


2to  <S>n  Blue  Mater. 

hands  full."  Meanwhile  the  Bengal  lights  tinged  all 
these  faces  with  purple,  with  white,  and  with  green  ; 
and  at  every  bursting  rocket  there  arose  a  cry  of 
Viva  I1  America!  Viva  il  Galileo!  and  now  and 
then,  but  rarely,  Viva  V Italia !  Above  the  crowd 
hats,  handkerchiefs,  and  glasses  were  seen  to  wave ; 
babies,  held  up  by  their  mothers,  flung  their  little 
arms  about — all  a  true  type  of  the  people  which 
could  for  a  moment  forget  so  much  trouble  in 

~ 

thoughtless  hilarity.  At  last  the  fireworks  came  to 
an  end,  and  the  ship,  dark  once  more  but  full  of 
feasting  as  ever,  plunged  amid  songs  and  shouting 
into  the  blackness  of  the  other  hemisphere. 

But  the  causeless  joy  of  that  throng  of  people  at 
the  confines  of  a  new  world,  on  the  lone  ocean,  and 
at  night,  was  to  me  more  pitiful  than  their  sadness. 
It  was  like  a  sinister  gleam  that  brought  out  their 
misery  all  the  more.  Unhappy  exiled  children  of 
my  country, — blood  drawn  from  the  arteries  of  my 
native  land, — my  ill-clad  brothers, — my  starving  sis- 
ters,— sons  and  fathers  who  have  fought  and  will 
fight  again  for  the  soil  on  which  they  could  not,  or 
cannot,  longer  live  !  I  never  loved  you  as  I  did  that 
evening,  never  as  then,  thought  of  your  suffering  and 
of  the  blind  mistrust  with  which  we  sometimes 
regard  you.  We  are  not  free  from  stain.  We  are  to 
blame  for  the  faults  and  shortcomings  with  which 

O 

the  world  upbraids  you.  Our  hands  are  not  clean 
in  this  matter,  for  we  have  not  loved  you  or  labored 


Crossing  tbe  %ine. 


211 


for  you  as  we  ought.  Never  did  I  feel  such  bitter- 
ness of  regret  as  in  that  hour  for  having  nothing 
but  words  to  give  you.  The  last  dream  of  Faust 
was  in  my  mind.  To  open  a  new  land  to  thousands 
upon  thousands,  to  see  smiling  harvests  and  happy 
villages  upon  the  onward  path  of  an  industrious, 
free,  contented  people.  For  this  only  is  life  worth 
having !  You  are  our  country,  our  world  ;  and  so 
long  as  your  mother  earth  sees  you  weep  and  suffer, 
so  long  will  all  our  happiness  be  selfishness,  and  all 
our  boasting,  lies. 


CHAPTER  XII 


LITTLE    GALILEO 

FTER  that  day  of  frolic,  as  is  usual 
iu  such  cases,  a  more  leaden  dul- 
ness  than  ever  settled  down  upon 
the  ship.  The  heat  was  dreadful 
and  was  enhanced  by  the  sight  of 
a  repulsive-looking  sea  which  gave 
an  idea  of  what  the  ocean  might 
become  if  no  bounds  were  set  to  the  multiplication 
of  its  inhabitants — a  hideous  and  pestilential  char- 
nel  of  dead  herrings  and  putrified  codfish.  Op- 
pressed by  the  monotony,  and  still  quivering  after 
the  disorder  of  the  day  before,  the  greater  part  of  the 
steerage  people  would  not  even  move  when  the  sail- 
ors, washing  down  the  deck,  as  usual,  with  the  hose, 
sent  streams  and  spouts  of  water  in  every  direction ; 
but  just  closed  their  eyes  and  let  themselves  be 
sluiced  like  worn-out  dogs.  For  many  hours  the 
whole  ship  seemed  plunged  in  profoundest  lethargy, 
and  even  after  an  interval  of  time  the  remembrance 


SLittle  Galileo.  213 

of  that  day  is  as  dismal  as  that  of  a  dead  face.  I 
think  I  see  now  in  the  sultry  afternoon  the  counte- 
nance of  the  Genoese  as  he  comes  to  my  stateroom 
and  asks:  "  Shall  we  go  and  see  them  kill?"  "Kill ! 
Kill  what  ?  "  I  said.  A  steer  of  course.  He  always 
knew  about  it  the  day  before,  and  went  to  look  on 
and  massacre  the  time.  O  !  the  endless  hours  passed 
at  the  air-port,  staring  out  at  that  sluggish,  melan- 
choly sea.  They  say  that  time  is  money,  and  yet  I 
would  have  given  a  whole  century  full  of  such  hours 
for  five  centimes.  Sea !  sea !  and  still  more  sea ! 
That  little  Mediterranean  yonder  !  Why,  I  thought 
of  it  as  a  blue  lake  suffocated  between  mountains, 
and  far  away  beyond  the  bounds  of  thought.  Water, 
boundless  water  !  There  half  flashed  across  my  mind 
a  horrible  suspicion  that  we  had  lost  our  way  and 
were  heading  for  the  Antarctic  Pole,  to  crash  into  the 

O 

eternal  ice.  Ah  !  happy  chance  !  Ruy  Bias  came 
to  rouse  me.  He  gazed  at  me  with  a  lack-lustre  eye 
meant  to  suggest  a  night  passed  in  aristocratic  excess, 
and  imparted  some  good  news.  The  christening  was 
fixed  for  four  o'clock  that  afternoon. 

Everything  was  arranged.  The  baptism  and  the 
registration  were  to  be  held  in  the  chart-room,  near 
the  wheel  under  the  bridge.  The  Neapolitan  priest 
was  to  administer  the  so-called  private  baptism,  for 
which  he  must  have  been  in  great  practice,  since  he 
had  travelled  during  his  early  years  over  the  lonely 
plains  of  farthest  Argentina,  where  there  were  no 


214  ©n  Blue  Mater. 

churches,  and  where  the  inhabitants,  preserving  rude 
tradition  only  of  the  Catholic  religion,  and  hearing  of 
a  priest,  would  come  hastening  to  him  for  the  rite ; 
young  fellows  even  sometimes  demanding  it  as  they 
sat  on  horseback.  He  had  politely  offered  his  ser- 
vices without  question  of  patacones  and  a  steward 
had  seen  him  that  morning  get  out  a  cope  and  stole 
which  bore  unmistakable  signs  of  long  and  adven- 
turous service.  The  child  was,  as  usual,  to  have  the 
name  of  the  ship ;  and  the  Galileo  had  already  a 
dozen  homonymous  children  scattered  about  the 
world.  The  young  lady  from  Mestre  was  to  be  god- 
mother. The  captain  had  offered  to  be  godfather; 
but  had  been  induced  to  resign  his  place  to  the 
Argentine  Delegate,  that  gentleman  having  cogently 
urged  that  the  child  ought  to  have,  for  sponsor  and 
welcomer  to  the  citizenship  he  was  adopting,  a  repre- 
sentative of  the  Republic. 

This  graceful  act  as  I  after  wards  learned,  made  his 
peace  with  the  other  passengers ;  for  they  had  before 
accused  him  and  the  rest  of  being  rather  distant  with 
the  Europeans,  and  of  holding  themselves  aloof.  I 
had,  however,  known  them  for  several  days,  and  had 
observed  them  with  the  liveliest  curiosity ;  for  they 
were  the  first  I  had  seen  of  a  people  which  is,  or 
ought  to  be,  more  important  for  an  Italian  to  know 
than  any  other.  The  delegate  was  the  oldest  of  the 
party  and  seemed  to  take  the  lead,  as  having  the 
most  level  (quadra — square)  head  among  them  all. 


OLittle  Galileo,  215 

Tall,  with  the  fine,  firm  face  of  a  man  inured  to  the 
ways  of  the  world  and  the  strife  of  politics,  he  sent 
through  his  eye-glasses  the  bold  conquering  glance 
of  one  that  swayed  the  votes  of  men,  and  the  hearts 
of  women.  The  husband  of  the  blonde  lady,  was  a 
light-haired  little  counsellor,  secretary  to  some  minis- 
ter plenipotentiary  of  his  own  country,  with  a  pair 
of  lively  gray  eyes,  as  sharp  as  bodkins,  which 
seemed,  when  they  looked  at  one,  to  pierce  through 
brain  and  bosom,  down  to  the  very  memorandum 
book.  There  were  two  dark  youths,  very  elegant, 
and  rather  insignificant,  who  seemed  to  think  of 

O  ' 

nothing  but  the  dainty  white  linen  of  which  they 
made  such  show,  and  of  their  thick  hair,  so  artist- 
ically built  up :  hair  of  that  deep,  sheeny,  Argentine 
— Andalusian  black  which  is  neither  more  nor  less 
than  a  flout  to  grizzled  heads.  The  most  original 
of  all  was  the  fifth,  a  large  fine  man  of  thirty,  with 
a  bold  face,  and  a  rough  voice ;  type  of  the  horse 
tamer,  proprietor  of  a  vast  estancia,  in  the  province 
of  Buenos  Ayres,  where  he  passed  two  years  out  of 
three,  among  thirty  thousand  cows  and  twenty  thou- 
sand sheep — leading  the  life  of  the  gauchoj  going 
to  Paris  for  a  change ;  and  expending  there  each 
time  a  thousand  head  of  cattle  or  so. 

A  trait  common  to  all  was  the  fineness  of  the 
mouth  and  the  smallness  of  the  head ;  which  they 
always  carried  high  ;  but  the  hereditary  habit  which 
others  have  observed  in  the  Argentines  of  coming 

O  O 


216  <§m  ffilue  Mater, 

down  upon  the  toes  rather  than  upon  the  heel,  I  did 
not,  to  say  the  truth,  remark.  Notably  elegant  and 
dainty  in  their  personal  habits,  every  one  of  them. 
Courteous,  but  of  a  courtesy,  so  to  speak,  more  flow- 
ing than  that  of  the  Spaniard,  less  ceremonious  than 
that  of  the  Frenchman ;  joined  to  a  lively  ease  of 
manner  and  conversation  altogether  usual  with  men 

O 

who  go  out  into  life  as  soon  as  they  cease  to  be  chil- 
dren, and  who,  in  the  midst  of  an  immature,  unsettled, 
disorderly  society  grow  up  untroubled,  unrestrained  ; 
full  of  confidence  in  themselves  and  their  own  good 
fortune.  Their  turn  of  mind  was  expressed  by  a 
kind  of  look,  which  is  best  likened  to  the  bold  glance 
of  a  man  on  horseback  with  a  free  horizon  before  him. 
Withal  an  amazing  readiness  in  pronouncing  opinions 
upon  the  nations,  the  institutions,  and  the  manners 
of  Europe, — seen  in  passing; — opinions  which  dis- 
played a  perception  rather  acute  than  profound,  and 
a  great  variety,  not  so  much  of  study  as  of  reading, 
—quoted  readily  and  aptly.  And  they  showed,  not 
so  much  perhaps  in  their  opinions  as  in  their  pref- 
erence for  certain  subjects  of  conversation,  a  strong 
sympathy  with  nature  and  with  French  life,  aris- 
ing from  an  indisputable  analogy  in  the  features  of 
their  mind  and  intelligence.  They  all  had  Paris  at 
their  fingers'  ends,  and  their  trunks  were  full  of 
boulevard  newspapers  and  photograph  likenesses  of 
artistes  from  the  Opera  and  the  Comedie.  In  other 
countries  they  knew  well  enough  the  gambling  houses 


Xittle  (Balileo.  217 

and  the  baths,  and  above  all  the  music  halls ;  about 
which  they  talked  with  all  the  fire  of  youth  ;  but  it 
was  plain  that  they  had  nothing  to  ask  of  us  in  this 
respect,  for  they  had  Europe  over  to  dance  and  sing 
for  them  in  their  own  place.  As  to  Italy  it  was  im- 
possible to  find  out,  under  the  necessary  courtesy  of 
their  phrases,  what  their  real  sentiments  were.  They 
were  well  pleased  with  the  immigration  from  our 
country,  regarding  it  as  an  influx  of  excellent  labor- 
ers and  would  say,  pointing  to  the  emigrants :  "  All 
that  is  so  much  gold  for  us  ;  send  us  all  Italy,  so 
only  you  leave  the  monarchy  at  home." 

It  was  clear,  also,  that  they,  like  the  revolutionists 
of  the  last  century,  regarded  a  human  being  subject 
to  monarchy  as  a  poor  creature  worthy  of  all  com- 
miseration, and  that  they  looked  upon  us  Europeans 
as  a  sort  of  beings  born  old,  dragging  ourselves 
about  among  the  miserable  relics  of  a  dead  past,  and 
half-starved, — as  matter  of  course.  Beneath  all  this 
there  flashed  out  a  lively  national  pride,  the  pride 
of  a  small  people  that  had  conquered  great  Spain, 
humiliated  England,  and  enlarged  the  borders  of  the 
civilized  world ;  sweeping  out  barbarism  from  an 
enormous  region,  so  that  men  of  every  language  and 
of  every  race  might  find  shelter  there.  In  fact,  they 
celebrated  at  least  twice  a  week,  with  floods  of 
champagne,  some  glorious  event  of  the  Argentine 
revolution  : — admirable  proof,  of  course,  of  the  good 
results  flowing;  from  those  victories.  But  between 

O 


2i8  ©n  m\\c  Mater. 

their  national  pride  and  that  of  Europeans  there 
was  this  remarkable  difference ;  that,  while  we  base 
ours  upon  the  past,  and  always  pique  ourselves  upon 
that,  and  boast  of  that,  they  seldom,  if  ever,  spoke 
of  it,  but  looked  to  the  future  with  the  child's  con- 
stant phrase,  "When  we  are  grown  up!"  And  in 
them  all  there  was  evident,  not  the  hope,  but  the/ 
certitude,  bright,  deep,  unshakable,  of  becoming  in 
time  an  enormous  people,  the  United  States  of  Latin 
America,  swarming  from  the  valley  of  the  Amazon 
to  the  farthest  confines  of  Patagonia.  And  their 
consciousness  of  being  called  to  this  pre-eminence 
was  evident,  moreover,  from  their  anxiety  on  every 
occasion  to  show  themselves  original,  not  only  with 
respect  to  the  old  Spanish  ancestor?,  of  whom  they 
spoke  in  a  slightly  mocking  tone,  as  of  a  race  of 
which,  in  happy  hour,  they  had  outgrown  every 
trace,  but  also  with  respect  to  the  other  Latin  peoples 
of  America,  the  Chilians,  the  Peruvians,  the  Bolivi- 
ans, the  Brazilians ;  pointing  out  the  moral  and 
intellectual  shortcomings  and  the  absurd  character- 

O 

istics  of  all  these  with  a  facetious  irony  which 
betrayed  a  supercilious  rivalry  tempered  by  no 
brotherly  feeling  whatever.  All  these  remarks  they 
made  in  eager,  fluent  language,  broken  by  hearty 
laughs  and  outbursts  of  almost  involuntary  sincerity, 
revealing  natures  capable  of  violent  but  generous 

O  1  O 

passions,  and  a  great  fickleness  of  emotion  born  of 
an  ardent  desire  and  determination  to  enjoy  life  in 


Xittle  Galileo.  219 

every  possible  way.  One  thing  I  could  have  wished 
to  see,  and  that  was,  something  more  like  human 
pity  in  the  eyes  and  voices  of  one  or  two  of  them 
when  telling  of  certain  inhuman  episodes  in  their 
history ;  something  a  little  sadder  and  softer,  to  dis- 
pel the  suspicion  that  the  long  tradition  of  wars  in 
the  desert  and  wars  among  themselves,  horrible  all, 
had  left  a  trace  of  evil  in  their  natures.  But,  on  the 
whole,  the  first  impression  was  most  agreeable,  such 
as  to  make  one  doubly  eager  to  scan  their  characters 
more  closely. 

For  the  first  time  I  found  myself  with  people 
wholly  new  to  me, — a  thing  wrhich  had  never  hap- 
pened in  Europe.  In  the  midst  of  a  vast  mass  of 
ideas  and  attainments  common  to  us  all,  I  vaguely 
recognized  the  traces  of  a  moral  and  mental  educa- 

o 

tion  wholly  different  from  ours ;  the  peculiar  notions 
of  a  race  encamped  upon  the  confines  of  civilization 
at  the  extremity  of  a  thinly  populated  continent,  in 
the  solitude  which  an  invading  army  would  find, 
and  impressed  by  scenery  beautiful  in  another  way 
from  ours ;  more  vast,  more  primitive,  more  awful. 
And  I  was  amazed  at  that  Spanish  language  of 
theirs,  no  longer  hide-bound,  as  it  were,  but  worked 
loose,  and  lighted  up,  accentuated,  in  a  way  alto- 
gether new  to  me;  starred  with  blooms  of  speech 
most  strange  and  wondrous,  and  rolled  out  with  a 
far-off  touch  of  Indian  melody  which  made  one  think 
of  copper -colored  faces  and  plumed  head-dresses. 


220  ©n  Blue  Mater. 

But  more  than  by  their  language  I  was  struck  by 
their  incredible  flow  of  words,  and  by  their  mimic 
powers  of  gesture  and  intonation  ;  especially  when 
they  grew  warm  in  describing  their  mighty  moun- 
tains and  their  boundless  plains.  The  blond  coun- 
sellor, in  particular,  described  the  hunting  of  wild 
horses  as  an  actor  would  recite  a  classic  extract,  with 
a  vigor  of  movement  and  a  melody  of  speech  almost 
beyond  belief,  and  all  without  art  or  affectation.  I 
noticed  in  all  their  voices  the  charm  of  a  metallic 
ring  and  a  natural  gift  of  modulation.  The  lady, 
especially,  had  a  clear  voice,  with  certain  delightful 
head  notes,  which  sounded,  to  one  who  listened 
without  looking,  like  the  tones  of  a  child.1  Observ- 
ing, one  evening,  the  strange  effect  she  produced 
upon  me  by  pronouncing  in  this  way  the  name  of 
the  state  of  Jujui,  she  went  on  saying  over  other 
Indian  names  of  mountains  and  rivers  to  amuse  me, 
fairly  laughing  at  my  wonder: — " Ringuiririca," 
"  Parauapicaba,"  "  IbirapitA-Minf."  It  was  like  the 
warbling  of  a  nightingale. 

To  them  the  voyage  from  America  to  Europe  was 
as  is  to  us  the  trip  from  Genoa  to  Leghorn ;  and 
they  had  made  it  many  times.  For  whatever  con- 
ceit they  may  have  of  themselves,  and  whatever  they 
may  think  of  us,  Europe  is  always  the  mother  coun- 
try, the  great  country  of  their  souls,  and  they  are 
attracted  to  it.  The  delegate,  accordingly,  could 

1  Voce  bianco,. 


SLittle  (Balileo.  221 

count  up  eight  transatlantic  voyages,  and  the  net  of 
his  love  affairs  must  have  been  spread  over  a  forest 
of  masts.  Still  young,  he  had  a  long  life  behind 
him  even  in  a  public  capacity ;  for,  being  about  forty, 
he  had  been  at  thirty  editor-in-chief  of  an  important 
journal,  a  high  ministerial  official,  director  of  a  bank, 
and  government  envoy  to  Paris  on  a  financial  mis- 
sion. And  his  was  no  exceptional  case  among  the 
youth  of  his  country.  He  said,  and  truly,  that  his 
country  was  in  the  hands  of  young  men,  since  the 
Republic  desired  that  the  early  spring  sap  which 
boiled  in  its  veins  should  run  in  those  of  its  servants. 
"  You  others,"  he  said,  "  crowded  into  a  narrow 
space,  loaded  down  with  history,  with  laws  and  with 
traditions,  must  go  slowly,  and  let  the  old  men  take 
the  lead ;  while  we  young  fellows  of  three  hundred 
years  date,  with  a  third  part  of  South  America  for 
our  country,  and  bound  to  make  up  for  the  time 
lost  in  fights  with  the  savages  and  in  wars  of  social 
revolution  of  which  we  are  only  just  now  clear,  we 
must  take  bold  impatience  for  our  guide,  and  drive 
on  at  full  speed."  So  he  went  on  pleasantly  about 
the  "  misuse "  of  old  age  in  Europe.  "  It  would 
seem,"  he  said,  "  that  with  you  gray  hairs  are  a  nec- 
essary qualification  for  certain  trusts.  There  are 
some  diseases  which  confer  the  right  to  certain 
honors.  Gout,  for  instance,  might  almost  seem  to 
be  all-powerful.  Your  youth  is  worn  out  in  endless 
waiting ;  you  reach  a  place  which  requires  a  clear 


222  ©n  Blue  Mater. 

mind  and  steady  nerve  exactly  at  the  time  when 
these  qualities  fail  you.  You  use  up  all  your  powers 
in  climbing,  and,  by  the  time  you  are  up,  the  clock 
strikes  the  hour  for  retiring." 

At  this  juncture  the  stewardess  came  to  say  it  was 
time  for  the  christening.  The  delegate  ran  to  his 
stateroom  to  .change  his  silk  travelling  cap  for  a 
covering  something  more  formal.  I  moved  towards 
the  chart-room.  In  the  forward  part  of  the  ship 
there  was  already  a  commotion,  especially  among 
the  women,  who  all  wanted  to  come  up  on  the  main 
deck  to  look  on ;  so  much  so  that  guards  had  to  be 
placed  at  the  ladders  to  prevent  their  overcrowding 
the  place.  There  was  a  murmur  of  curiosity  as  great 
as  at  the  baptism  of  a  crown  prince  ;  and  no  one  re- 
marked the  threatening  rain  squall  which  had  already 
begun  to  darken  the  air.  Entering  the  chart-room 
with  two  or  three  others,  I  had  some  difficulty  in 
finding  standing  room.  Before  a  table  stood  the 
captain,  who  represented  the  general  government, 
together  with  his  first  officer  and  the  commissary  as 
witnesses.  Round  about  against  the  wall  were  the 

O 

blonde  lady,  the  Argentine  lady,  the  brush  lady,  the 
pianist  and  her  mother,  the  Brazilian  lady,  with  her 
black  nurse ;  and  about  a  dozen  men,  among  them 
the  Garibaldian,  with  his  sad,  stern  face.  The  end 
window,  which  opened  on  the  deck,  was  full  of 
heads  of  steerage  women,  each  above  each,  and  beam- 
ing with  delight  at  having  secured  good  places. 


'  after  tbem  came  tbc  motber,  bel&  roun6  tbe  watet 

In:  tbe  bnncbbacl;  sailor." 


224  ©n  3Blue  Mater. 

Behind  them  was  heard  the  murmur  of  the  crowd. 
On  the  table  were  the  ship's  muster-roll  and  log- 
book lying  open  ;  a  tray  with  a  glass  of  water  and  a 
salt  cellar,  together  with  some  printed  birth-certifi- 
cate blanks.  All  wore  an  air  of  thoughtful  com- 
posure. That  strange  room,  hung  with  charts  and 
gleaming  here  and  there  with  nautical  instruments, 
those  twenty -four  capital  letters  inscribed  as  an 
epitaph  upon  the  signal-flag  lockers,  that  group  of 
persons  so  different  and  so  unusual,  those  grave, 
immovable  officers,  that  hum  and  stir  of  an  invisible 
multitude,  the  dark  sea  line  cutting  across  the  open 
door,  evoked  a  feeling  at  once  of  amazement  and  re- 

7  O 

spect  which  declared  itself  in  a  suppressed  whisper. 

In  a  few  moments  the  tall  priest  arrived  in  a  cope 
and  stole  which  looked  as  if  they  had  served  to  bap- 
tize the  early  Atlantic  navigators  ;  and  the  attention 
of  all  was  at  once  fixed  upon  him.  He  entered  with 
bowed  head,  looking  at  no  one ;  then,  approaching 
the  table,  and  making  the  sign  of  the  Cross,  he  began 
to  mutter,  with  closed  eyes  and  in  the  midst  of  a  pro- 
found silence,  the  usual  exorcisms  [sic]  over  the  salt 
and  the  water.  Then  putting  a  spoonful  of  salt  into 
the  water,  he  stirred  it  up,  and  dipping  his  finger 
therein,  blessed  those  present.  The  women  made 
the  sign  of  the  Cross,  and  the  whispering  began  again. 

The  baby  did  not  immediately  come,  so  the  cap- 
tain sent  the  commissary  to  see  after  it.  As  the 
old  man  ill  of  pleurisy  had  grown  worse,  the  new- 


^Little  (Balileo,  2?5 

delivered  mother  had  been  moved  from  the  sick  bay 
to  an  empty  stateroom  in  the  second  cabin.  It  was 
but  a  step,  and  the  commissary  reappeared  at  once 
saying :  Vegnan — "  Here  they  are." 

Up  the  ladder  then  came  the  father  in  a  high 
state  of  triumph,  in  a  clean  shirt,  freshly  shaven,  and 
with  the  little  creature  in  his  arms ;  then  came  the 
young  lady  from  Mestre,  in  her  usual  sea-green  dress; 
the  Argentine  supporting  her  by  the  hand.  After 
them,  to  the  surprise  of  myself  and  of  everybody, 
came  the  mother,  pale  but  smiling,  held  round  the 
waist  by  the  hunchback  sailor.  "  There  was  no  help 
for  it,"  he  growled.  She  would  come  in  spite  of  the 
doctor's  warnings,  stubbornly  determined  to  do  here 
as  she  used  to  do  at  home,  where  dopo  do  zorni  la  se 
gaveva  sempre  messo  afar  le  sofagende :  "  She  always 
went  back  to  work  after  a  couple  of  days."  Last 
came  one  of  the  twins  with  a  bit  of  candle  in  his 
hand. 

A  kindly  murmur  of  pity  and  of  sympathy  greeted 
the  small  Galileo  who,  with  his  little  red  face  in  a 
little  white  ruffled  cap,  a  medal  round  his  neck,  and 
rolled  up  in  a  blue  wrapper,  slumbered  placidly. 

The  young  lady,  as  soon  as  she  entered,  took  the 
child  from  the  father's  arms,  and  with  her  own 
sweet  sad  smile  showed  him  to  the  captain  ;  and  I 
doubt  if  a  single  one  there  present  failed  to  note  the 
mournful  contrast  between  the  little  creature  that 
was  just  entering  life  and  that  excellent  and  noble 


226  <§>n  36lue  Mater. 

being  that  was  so  soon  to  leave  it.  All  looked  for  a 
moment  at  her  alone,  as  with  bent  head  she  gazed 
into  the  baby  face  and  gave  token  in  her  eyes  of 
how  great  a  treasure  of  motherly  love  was  to  be 
carried  with  her  into  the  grave. 

The  captain,  in  the  curt  tones  of  the  Quartiere  di 
Pre,  and  with  the  frown  of  one  who  is  setting  forth 
an  indictment,  read  the  birth  certificate  inscribed  on 
the  muster-roll  of  the  ship : 

Before  me,  captain  commanding  the  steamship 
Galileo,  duly  registered  in  the  port  of  Genoa,  this 
such  and  such  a  day  of  so-and-so,  in  the  year  eighteen 
hundred  and  so  forth,  at  the  hour  of  whatever  it  may 
have  been,  personally  came  and  appeared  so-and-so, 
doctor  on  board  said  steamer,  accompanied  by  so- 
and-so,  and  so-and-so,  did  show  to  me  a  male  child 
to  which  the  woman  so-and-so  had  just  given  birth. 
And  a  smile  was  on  every  lip  as  we  heard  him 
read  out  that  the  native  place  of  that  poor  little 
baby  was  lat.  4°  north ;  Ion.  west  of  Paris  28°,  48' 
(26°,  28'  W.  Greenwich). 

In  witness  whereof,  the  captain  went  on  to  read, 
we  have  drawn  up  this  present  statement  in  writing, 
and  placed  it  on  record  upon  the  muster-roll  of  this 
ship.  Signed  by  - 

And  then  the  captain  with  two  of  his  officers 
signed  the  record,  and  three  certificates,  one  for  the 
Italian  Consul  at  Montevideo,  one  for  the  Recruiting 
Bureau  of  the  port  of  Genoa,  and  one  for  the  father. 


"last  came  one  of  the  twins  witb  a  bit  of  canole  in  bis  bano." 


228  <§m  Blue  Mater, 

He  then  handed  the  pen  to  the  father  who,  with  the 
sweat  of  that  unusual  toil  upon  his  brow,  managed  to 
scrawl  his  name  three  times. 

At  this  moment  the  ship  gave  a  slight  roll,  and 
the  godmother  staggered.  The  Argentine  caught 
her  arm  to  support  her,  and  I  could  read  in  his  eyes 
the  pitying  astonishment  he  felt  at  touching  that 
fleshless  limb.  The  sky  had  grown  dark,  the  sea 
was  of  a  livid  color,  and  raindrops  were  falling  on 
the  deck  above. 

The  priest  stepped  forward. 

The  child  w as  named.  He  crossed  himself ;  and, 
placing  his  large,  hairy  hand  under  the  head  of  the 
sleeping  infant,  while  the  Argentine  placed  his  hand 
on  its  breast,  he  duly  made  the  three  aspersions  from 
the  glass  of  water  saying : 

"  Galilee,  Pet  re,  Johannes,  ego  te  oaptizo  in  nomine 
Patris  et  Filii  et  Spiritus  Sancti." 

Then  :  "  Galilee  Petre,  Johannes,  vade  inpacem,  et 
Dominus  sit  tecum"  All  the  women  at  the  window 
answered,  Amen. 

Then  he  said  the  Agimus. 

I  was  looking  the  while  at  the  mother  who  rolled 
her  large  eyes  upon  the  baby,  upon  the  officers,  the 
instruments,  upon  that  strange  chapel;  and  who 
listened  to  the  creak  of  the  wheel  and  the  distant 
whistling  of  the  wind  in  the  rigging,  casting  from 
time  to  time  a  furtive  glance  at  the  dark  sea.  She 
seemed  to  be  greatly  troubled  lest  there  should  be 


Xittle  (Balileo,  229 

something  profane  and  ill-omened  in  a  ceremony 
performed  thus  in  haste  in  such  a  place  in  such 
weather. 

The  priest  ended  with  :  "  Ave  Maria,  gratia  plena 
Dominus  tecum" 

" Sancta  Maria,  Mater  Dei,  ora  pro  nobis"  re- 
sponded the  women. 

At  that  very  moment  a  most  vivid  flash  lighted 
up  the  place,  an  ox  gave  a  long  bellow,  the  ship 
lurched  and  the  mother  began  to  weep. 

"  Amen"  said  the  priest. 

11  Amen"  was  answered  from  without. 

All  turned  to  the  poor  woman  asking  what  was 
the  matter,  and  bidding  her  take  courage.  She 

'  O  O 

wiped  her  eyes  with  the  back  of  her  hand  and 
asked  :  ParcM  ntfl  glie  ga  messo  el  sal  sula  boca  ? 
"  Why  did  they  not  put  salt  on  his  mouth  ? " 

They  had  to  reason  with  her,  to  explain.  It  was  a 
private  baptism ;  some  things  could  not  be  done  be- 
cause it  was  not  in  church — all  could  be  completed 
in  America — she  must  compose  herself,  the  sacra- 
ment was  valid  all  the  same. 

Then  she  cheered  up,  kissed  the  baby  fondly, 
made  her  acknowledgments  and  so  went  out.  It 

o 

was  raining  hard  ;  but  the  little  train,  followed  by 
the  Graribaldian,  could  hardly  make  its  way  to  the 
second  cabin.  The  hunchback  had  to  make  room 
with  his  elbows,  and  the  twin  had  his  candle-end 
snatched  out  of  his  hand.  Everybody  wished  to 


236  <$n  Blue  Mater. 

see,  not  the  baby,  but  the  sponsors;  and  have  a 
notion  of  what  presents  the  happy  mother  was 
likely  to  get.  When  they  saw  the  young  lady  there 
was  clapping  of  hands.  Suddenly,  a  loud,  harsh  voice 
was  heard : 

"That 's  right !  Truckle  to  the  gentle  folk,  will 
you  !  They  stand  sponsor  at  his  christening  to-day, 
but  they  will  let  him  perish  of  hunger  when  he 
grows  ii}) !  Idiots  !  " 

It  was  the  old  tribune  in  the  green  jacket,  stand- 
ing upright  on  the  hatch  of  the  women's  cabin.  At 
once  several  persons  left  the  crowd  of  gazers.  Some 
cried  shame ;  some  echoed  him.  But  the  joyous 
shouts  of  the  children  drowned  their  voices. 

The  mother  had  hardly  reached  the  stateroom 
when  she  sank  down  upon  a  box,  exhausted.  The 
father  placed  the  infant  in  a  berth,  and  the  god- 
parents brought  out  the  presents.  Then  began  a 
duet  of  voices  in  wonder  and  gratitude:  "But 

o 

what  is  this  !  You  give  yourselves  too  much  trouble. 
You  make  us  blush  !  How  good,  how  kind  you  are  ! 
Is  that  for  me,  and  this  too  ?  The  Lord  be  praised  !  " 
And  the  father,  in  an  access  of  gratitude,  bent  over 
the  new-born  in  the  berth,  exclaiming :  Voro  strussi- 
anne,  voro  .mar  xangue  per  ti,  vissare  mie.  "  I  '11 
work  myself  to  death  for  tliee,  I'll  sweat  blood  for 
my  darling,"  and  this  in  a  heartfelt  tone  which 
promised  a  life  of  labor  and  sacrifice  for  the  little 
creature,  born  between  heaven  and  earth,  and  half- 


OLittle  Galileo  231 

way  between  the  country  he  had  left  and  an  unknown 
land ;  with  no  dependence  in  the  world  but  the 
courage  and  the  muscles  of  his  father.  And  then : — 

O 

Tazi,  vecia  mata — "  Be  quiet,  you  old  fool,"  he 
harshly  cried  to  his  weeping  wife  and  flung  his  arms 
around  her  neck. 

The  young  lady  then  turned  to  the  Garibaldian, 
who  was  looking  out  of  the  door,  and,  calling  his 
attention  to  that  embrace, — "Family  affection  !"  she 
said  with  a  reproving  gesture  of  her  forefinger  and  a 
kindly  smile. 

He  made  no  answer. 


A    SEA    OF    FIEE 

UT  the  christening,  like  the  festi- 
val of  crossing  the  line,  gave  only 
a  brief  truce  to  the  irritation 
which  was  creeping  over  the  emi- 
grants by  reason  of  the  increasing 
heat ;  particularly  over  the  wo- 
men, who  were  growing  hour  by  hour  more  sick  and 
tired  of  a  mode  of  life  so  foreign  to  their  habits. 

O 

Several  days  since,  the  disorder  of  petty  larceny  had 
broken  out,  and  with  it  a  general  fever  of  suspicion. 
Towels,  slippers,  clothes,  disappeared  as  if  by  en- 
chantment ;  those  who  were  robbed  thought  they 
recognized  their  property  in  the  hands  of  one  or  an- 
other, and  at  every  moment  a  couple  of  scolding  slat- 
terns, leading  their  children  by  the  hand  and  witli 
the  corpus  delicti  under  their  arms,  followed  by  their 
husbands  and  their  witnesses,  would  be  coming  to 
the  commissary  to  demand  justice.  Then  there  was 
trial  and  pleading  in  due  form.  Perhaps  it  was  a 

232 


H  Sea  of  ffire.  233 

handkerchief,  from  which  some  thievish  woman  had 
taken  the  mark,  or  a  shoe  with  the  maker's  label 
torn  off.  The  accused  party  denied  everything,  in- 
voking the  Saviour  and  the  Madonna ;  the  accuser 
obstinately  persisted,  calling  down  the  rest  of  the 
Calendar ;  then  a  couple  of  experts  had  to  be  called 
in  to  examine  the  handkerchief,  or  a  cobbler  to  pro- 
nounce upon  the  shoe.  But  the  Piedmontese  would 
have  none  of  the  Neapolitan  experts,  the  Neapolitan 
utterly  repudiated  North  Italy;  the  husbands  took 
the  part  of  their  wives ;  the  witnesses  and  the  by- 
standers were  for  their  own  provinces.  There  were 
interminable  disputes  between  stolid  mountaineers, 
who  urged  a  hundred  times  the  same  argument  in 
exactly  the  same  phrase,  and  voluble  men  of  the 
plains,  who  belched  forth  words  in  torrents.  Often- 
times they  did  not  understand  one  another,  and  an 
interpreter  was  called  in.  Sometimes  search  had  to 
be  made.  Then  the  accused  began  to  weep,  the  chil- 
dren to  whimper,  and  the  men  to  threaten  :  "  Wait 
until  we  get  on  shore,  you  scum  of  the  earth  ! "  "  Do 
you  want  me  to  pitch  you  into  the  boiler,  you  ac- 
cursed gallows'  bird  ? "  "I  '11  throw  your  iusides  to 
the  fishes  ! "  "  You  !  why,  the  whole  ship  knows 
you  ! "  "  And  as  for  you,  the  whole  Atlantic  Ocean 
would  not  wash  you  clean  ! " 

The  poor  commissary  racked  his  brains  to  under- 
stand and  to  do  justice ;  but  in  whatever  way  he  de- 
cided there  was  always  a  cry  of  "  partiality."  If  he 


234  <§>n  JSlue  Mater. 

pronounced  against  a  Neapolitan  or  a  Sicilian  these 
said,  "  Of  course  !  the  other  is  your  countryman  ! " 
If  he  gave  it  against  his  own  countryman  all  the 
north  country  people  cried  out :  "  Yes,  yes,  no  doubt. 
Those  creatures  have  ways — such  ways — of  making 
friends."  It  was  useless  to  argue  with  them.  "  But 
listen, — don't  you  remember  how  I  decided  in  favor 
of  one  of  your  friends  yesterday  because  she  was  in 
the  right  ? "  No  use.  He  had  done  so  because  she 
was  pretty,  or  all  alone,  or  because — in  short  there 
must  have  been  some  other  reason.  And  on  both 
sides  a  chorus  of  growls  :  "  I  wonder  if  we  are  not 
Italian  as  well  as  they,  though  we  don't  speak 
Genoese.  They  are  the  ones  to  give  orders  now." 
And  it  was  the  more  pity  to  see  these  people,  so  far 
from  their  own  country,  betray  in  every  little  dis- 
pute family  rancor,  race  antipathy ;  to  hear  with 
what  devilish  ingenuity  they  wounded  each  the  other 
in  his  pride  of  citizenship,  digging  up  old-time  griev- 
ances and  reproaches  and  nursing  them  back  to  life 
as  it  were,  so  as  to  carry  them  to  America  in  their 
full  vigor.  After  every  dispute  the  parties  sep- 
arated full  of  spite  and  enmity  which  they  in- 
stilled into  their  friends  and  country  people  of  both 
sexes  when  they  went  forward  again.  These  grad- 
ually divided  into  two  factions,  which  glowered  at 
each  other,  and  insulted  each  other — moving  out  of 

7  O 

the  way  as  if  from  fear  of  vermin  or  making  a  great 
show  of  buttoning  up  their  pockets  so  as  not  to  lose 


H  Sea  ot  tfire.  235 

a  wallet  or  a  handkerchief.  Alas  !  alas !  The  com- 
missary with  all  his  diligence  could  not  hear  every 
cause,  and  with  all  his  patience  had  sometimes  to 
plant  his  teeth  in  the  second  joint  of  his  forefinger. 
The  tall  Bolo<mese,  whose  haughtiness  rose  with  the 

o  *  *-? 

temperature,  would  have  had  the  whole  ship  searched 
because  somebody  had  carried  off  her  tortoise-shell 
comb  ;  and  threatened  the  Societa  di  Navisrazione 

O 

with    vengeance   at   the    hands  of  her  brother  the 

O 

journalist,  as  soon  as  she  lauded  in  America.  The 
poor  lady  of  the  black  silk  dress,  was  in  despair  be- 
cause someone  had  stolen  from  her  a  silver  pin,  the 
gift  of  her  sister  she  said  ;  but  she  did  not  dare  have 
recourse  to  the  commissary  for  fear  of  some  vendetta. 
And  there  were  women  who,  not  so  much  from,  fear 
as  from  a  desire  to  exhibit  a  spiteful  mistrust  of  their 
neighbors,  slept  with  all  their  property  under  them 
or  in  their  arms — at  the  risk  of  being  misunderstood, 
all  the  same.  In  short  it  was  maddening. 

And  yet  the  disputes  about  thievery,  real  or 
invented,  were  not  the  most  difficult  to  deal  with. 
The  worst  was  that  all  this  irritation  had  induced  a 
most  extraordinary  touchiness  which  broke  out  on 
the  smallest  occasion,  so  that  they  were  constantly 
coming  to  the  commissary  to  complain  of  some  lack 
of  due  respect ;  and  that  gentleman  had  to  sit  in 
judgment  upon  questions  of  manners  and  breeding. 
The  poor  hump-backed  sailor  said  he  could  stand  it 
no  longer :  Dixan  die  gli'e  de  ladre  !  (dicono  che  ci  son 


236  <§>n  Blue  Mater, 

delle  ladre) — lie   never  spoke    of  any   but  women. 
"  Thieves  amonsr  them  !  of  course   there  are  ;  what 

O 

do  they  expect?  But  if  we  refused  to  carry  thieves 
we  should  not  make  enough  to  pay  for  coal — Sink 
the  whole  set  of  them  ! "  As  things  stood,  a  serious 
scuffle  might  break  out  at  any  moment.  The  even- 
ing before,  as  soon  as  the  christening  was  over,  two 
women  had  had  a  fight  in  a  corner  of  the  cabin,— 
quite  quietly,  like  ladies.  And  this  evening  the  poor 
bookkeeper  came  to  worse  grief  still.  Having  ven- 
tured to  remonstrate  with  a  couple  of  emigrants  who 
were  making  gestures  behind  the  Genoese  girl  and 
raising  much  vulgar  laughter,  these  fellows  fell 
upon  him  and  would  have  handled  him  very  roughly 
had  not  the  Garibaldian,  passing  that  way,  rescued 
the  poor  creature,  but  not  before  his  neck-cloth  was 
torn  to  pieces.  "  All  due  to  the  electric  centres  of 
the  globe  "  said  the  commissary.  "  And,"  he  went  on 
to  remark,  "  worse  remains  behind." 

The  Garibaldian,  when  he  had  released  the  book- 
keeper, returned  to  the  midship  deck — from  which 
he  had  seen  the  disturbance — and  passed  near  me. 
I  was  inclined  to  ask  for  particulars,  but  his  stern, 
cold  look  repelled,  as  usual,  every  advance.  Dur- 
ing the  first  few  days  he  had  exchanged  a  word 
or  two  with  me ;  now  he  hardly  made  a  sign  by  way 
of  salute,  sometimes  he  made  no  siorn.  It  seemed 

7  O 

that  the  ever-increasing  tedium  of  forced  companion- 
ship in  that  life  on  board  ship  embittered  still  more 


H  Sea  of  Jftre.  237 

the  aversion  for  his  kind  which  he  cherished  in  his 
heart.  The  more  his  familiarity,  always  taciturn 
and  respectful,  with  the  young  lady  from  Mestre 
increased,  the  more  solitary  and  self-contained  he 
became  for  the  rest  of  us,  as  if  that  gentle  intercourse 
had  made  his  philosophy  more  gloomy  rather  than 
more  cheerful.  He  now  spoke  to  no  one.  He  would 
pass  hours  leaning  over  the  taffrail  looking  at  the  wake 
of  the  Galileo  as  if  it  were  an  endless  written  scroll 
unrolled  before  his  eyes  to  tell  the  history  of  the  world. 
And  his  haughty  bluntness  had  produced  its  usual 
effect  upon  the  others;  at  first  antipathy  and  a  show 
of  equal  scorn  ;  then,  when  the  steadiness  of  his  de- 
meanor showed  that  all  this  was  the  effect  of  habit 
and  in  no  way  personal,  there  ensued  a  feeling  of 
respect  and  awe  which  showed  itself  in  the  readi- 
ness with  which  the  look  of  any  fellow-passenger 
turned  to  the  sea  or  the  rigging  when  he  cast  his 
eyes  upon  them  to  see  if  they  were  contemplating 
him, — and  if  so,  how. 

It  seemed  as  if  a  kind  of  sympathy  had  arisen  for 
the  haughty  creature  that  not  only  did  nothing  to 
attract  such  a  feeling  but  spared  no  pains  to  repel  it. 
It  was  because  sadness,  joined  with  beauty  and 
strength,  has  its  own  charm  as  indicating  a  noble 
scorn  for  the  easy  gratification  which  the  one  and 
the  other  can  procure ;  and  because,  moreover, 
there  shone  out  of  his  eye  that  dark  light  which 
comes  directly  from  the  soul  and  gives  token  of  the 


238  ©n  Blue  Mater. 

virtue  which  is  so  much  admired  and  feared — cour- 
age. As  for  myself,  the  more  I  kept  out  of  his  way 
the  more  I  desired  to  know  him.  I  felt  for  him  that 
affection,  born  of  esteem  and  awe,  which  renders 
the  carelessness  of  its  object  quite  intolerable,  and 
which  would  almost  make  a  man  debase  himself  so 
only  he  could  overcome  it.  This  the  more  on  board 
ship  where  one  must  constantly  be  thrown  in  with 
the  person,  and  where  his  indifference  may  be  re- 
marked and  commented  upon  to  our  disadvantage. 
When  he  was  not  by  I  tried  to  persuade  myself  that 
his  soul  and  his  life  did  not  correspond  with  his 
aspect,  or  my  idea  of  it  ;  and  that,  if  I  had  known 
his  inner  soul,  I  should  only  have  had  one  more 
delusion  to  add  to  the  thousands  out  of  which  the 
history  of  our  friendships  is  made  up.  But  when  I 
saw  him  again  it  was  all  in  vain  ;  I  could  have 
sworn  that  the  man  could  never  have  done  a  base 
thing,  that  he  did  indeed  scorn  all  human  vanities, 
and  that  even  now  he  would  be  ready  to  give  his 
life,  at  once  and  without  a  thought  of  ambition,  for 
a  generous  idea.  I  submitted  to  his  superior  spirit 
as  to  a  magnetic  force  ;  and,  while  I  felt  a  certain 
annoyance  and  even  humiliation,  I  should  have  liked 
to  let  him  see  it  or  even  to  have  confessed  it  frankly. 
But  his  face  was  a  walled-up  gate  for  every  one. 

He  seemed  indifferent  to  the  great  shows  of  na- 
ture. I  did  not  perceive  even  a  gleam  upon  his 
countenance  at  sight  of  one  of  the  most  splendid 


H  Sea  of  jftre.  239 

and  amazing  sunsets  that  we  had  seen  since  entering 
the  tropics.  The  sky  was  clear  from  east  to  west, 
and  the  sun  just  ready  to  dip  his  rim  in  a  sea  as  of 
red-hot  coals;  and,  huge,  as  if  he  had  come  a  million 
leagues  nearer  to  the  earth,  was  streaked  from  side  to 

o 

side  with  a  single  thin  black  cloud,  which  made  him 
look  divided  as  by  miracle  into  two  burning  hemi- 
spheres. And  there  rose  at  the  same  time  to  an 
amazing  height  in  the  air  eight  wondrous  rays,  of 
veiled  light  but  liveliest  color,  passing  from  white 
to  rosy  red  and  so  to  softest  green,  which  lasted 
after  his  disk  had  disappeared  ;  and,  covering  a  third 
part  of  the  vault  of  heaven,  seemed  like  an  immense 
glowing  hand  that  was  to  grasp  the  earth.  But  we 
wondered  more  when,  turning  round  at  a  sign  from 
the  captain,  we  saw  eight  other  rays  over  against 
and  reflected  from  these  upon  the  heavens;  less 
bright,  but  with  the  same  vanishing  tints,  as  if  it 

O  '  O  * 

were  the  dawn  preceding  a  second  undreamed-of 
sun  that  was  to  rise  as  the  other  disappeared.  And 
the  white  sea  took  all  the  colors  of  the  sky  and 
glistened  as  if  with  millions  of  floating  pearls. 

But  that  animal  of  an  advocate — he  only — never 
looked.  He  turned  his  back  to  the  sunset,  he  never 
raised  his  eyes  to  the  reflection.  He  hated  nature, 
and  wished  to  show  it ;  for  that  sun  that  went  down 
into  the  sea  was  going  into  bad  company,  and  he 
was  not  going  to  be  answerable  for  either.  In  the 
midst  of  our  admiring  silence  he  was  peevishly  be- 


240 


Blue  Mater, 


moaning  himself  to  the  first  officer  about  the  crim-i-nal 
carelessness  of  the  company,  which  did  not  keep  up 
with  the  life-saving  inventions  of  the  day.  "  Eighty 
per  cent,  of  those  who  suffer  wreck  are  drowned," 
he  said,  "  through  fault  of  the  owners.  Why  did 


turnrt  bis  bach  to  the  eun?et." 


not  the  company  provide  the  proper  number  of  life- 
preservers?  Why  were  there  but  ten  boats,  hardly 
enough  to  save  one  passenger  in  four?  Why  were 
not  the  men  exercised  in  improvising  life  rafts? 
Why  were  there  no  '  Gwyn '  pumps?  Why  not 
adopt  Captain  Hurst's  double  deck?  Where  were 
the  Peake  life-boats  and  the  Thompson  safety  chairs  ? 
They,  the  gentlemen  of  the  company,  drowned  thou- 
sands of  worthy  men  and  let  inventors  starve,  shrug- 


H  Sea  of  ffire.  241 

ging  their  shoulders  and  laughing  in  their  avaricious 
sleeves  at  every  new  means  that  was  proposed  to 
save  the  pre-ci-ous  life  of  man  ! " 

This  timorous  little  dotard  knew  a  wondrous  deal 
about  such  matters,  and  was  a  master  of  knotting. 
The  agent,  who  found  out  everything,  imparted  to 
me  his  suspicions  that  the  poor  old  man  had  some 
stupendous  life-preserving  machine  in  his  room — per- 
haps several ;  keeping  them  in  a  huge  chest  which 
no  steward  had  ever  seen  open.  He  himself,  too, 
going  there  to  make  a  little  visit,  had  been  rather 
abruptly  refused  entrance,  and  shrewdly  suspected 
that  the  old  fellow  was  at  that  moment  trying  on 
one  of  his  amazing  gutta-percha  contrivances. 

Meanwhile  the  advocate  was  warming  up,  and 
going  on  more  volubly  than  ever.  "It  is  these 
companies,"  he  said,  "  that  give  us  to  the  sharks. 
The  marine  code  is  a  farce.  There  ought  to  be 
something  like  a  law  enforced  to  send  them  off  to 
rot  in  the  galleys." 

The  first  officer  objected  ;  and  the  advocate  re- 
joined more  hotly  than  before ;  so  that  there  soon 
was  a  little  group  about  them,  teasing  and  making 
fun  of  the  poor  scared  valetudinarian,  whom  the  hot 
night  was  quite  driving  from  his  propriety. 

But  the  talk  was  suddenly  cut  short  by  a  cry 
from  an  emigrant  on  the  upper  deck — "  The  sea  is 
on  fire ! " 

All  turned  towards  the  water.     The  ship  was  in- 


16 


242  ©n  Blue  Mater, 

deed  sailing  over  a  burning  sea,  splashing  from  her 
sides  myriads  of  topaz  lights,  haudfuls  of  diamonds; 
and  leaving  behind  her,  like  a  street  of  molten  gold, 
a  long  streak  of  liquid  phosphorus  which  seemed  to 
issue  from  her  stern  as  from  a  flaming  mine.  Here 

O 

there  was  gold ;  there  there  was  silver;  the  luminous 
space  extended  far  and  wide,  softening  down  into  a 
whitish  glow,  making  one  think  of  what  the  Dutch 
call  the  milky  sea,  often  beheld  by  sailors  on  the 
Pacific  Ocean,  in  the  Bay  of  Bengal,  and  among  the 
Molucca  Islands.  But  close  by  us  the  water  lived 
and  burned,  a  beauteous  thing  to  see,  a  coruscation 
of  intertwining  flakes  of  fire,  a  quivering  sweep  of 
little  stars  and  suns  that  rushed  at  the  ship  and 
tumbled  back  again,  that  leaped  and  fell  but  disap- 
peared not,  giving  the  wave  transparent  splendor  as 
if  lighted  from  below  by  the  fabled  stars  Pluto  and 
Proserpina,  that  gleam  at  the  centre  of  the  earth.  It 
was  easy  to  imagine  how  this  resplendent  sea  should 
have  turned  the  brain  of  those  mariners  of  old  time 
who  were  the  first  to  see  it.  The  dazzled  eye  was 
fastened  upon  it  and  could  not  turn  away ;  as  if  all 
the  riches  of  the  universe  were  floating  there.  One 

O 

longed  to  thrust  in  a  hand  and  draw  it  out  full  of 
pearls,  to  plunge  down  and  come  up  again  more  re- 
fulgent than  an  Eastern  monarch.  We  all  were 
incited  to  say  queer  things,  to  make  strange  com- 
parisons ;  the  imagination  seemed  to  wallow  in  that 
boundless  surging  flood  of  treasure  which  sparkled 


a  Sea  of  if  ire.  243 

round  us  in  tempting  mockery.  But  what  was  our 
wonder  when  after  an  hour  of  this  there  came  a 
school  of  dolphins,  swimming  and  darting  in  the 
midst  of  this  fire,  and  leaping  around  the  ship  as  if 
to  vie  with  us  in  joy.  Then  it  was  nothing  but  one 
whirl  of  sparks,  of  fiery  foam  and  blazing  spray,  a 
dance  of  constellations,  a  madness  of  splendor,  which 
made  the  emigrants  shriek  with  delight  as  if  they 
had  been  so  many  children. 

One  man  alone  was  ill  at  ease — the  husband  of 
the  Swiss  lady.  He  made  his  appearance  on  the 
quarter-deck  with  flushed  face  and  sullen  mien. 
But  he  had  brought  it  upon  himself.  He  had  gone 
up  on  the  midship-deck  among  a  crowd  of  peasants 
and  had  begun  to  set  forth  how  all  this  phosphores- 
cence was  occasioned  by  a  mass  of  microscopic  crea- 
tures called  by  some  unearthly  name  ;  in  other  words, 
that  every  one  of  these  sparks  was  an  animal.  This 
time,  however,  he  had  piled  it  up  too  high,  and  his 
audience  had  scouted  him. 

But  now  a  new  spectacle  attracted  our  admiring 
gaze.  The  sky  had  cleared  on  every  side  and  we 
saw  for  the  first  time  on  the  horizon  the  four  lovely 
stars  of  the  Southern  Cross,  unknown  to  the 

"  Lonely  region  of  the  North," 

and  twinkling  amid  the  black  solitude  of  the  Coal 
Sacks,  those  deserts  of  the  Antarctic  sky.  On  one 
side  glowed  the  Alpha  and  the  Beta  of  the  Centaur, 


244 


©u  JBlue  Mater. 


on  the  other  that  stupendous  sun,  Canopus,  in  the 
constellation  of  the  Ship.  The  spacious  firmament 
was  cloudless,  still,  and  brilliant.  The  Northern  Pole 
Star  had  sunk  beneath  the  ocean. 


CHAPTER  XIV 


A    BLUE    SEA 


|j]T  this  point,  the  17th  day,  I  find 
noted  on  ray  Berghaus  map  that 
we  are  to  pass  the  famous  line 
drawn  by  Pope  Alexander  VI.  to 
divide  the  world  between  Spain 
and  Portugal ;  and  then  these 

O          / 

words :  "  Fine  weather  in  the  house  and  out  of 
doors."  In  fact,  the  humor  of  that  multitude  of 
emigrants  did  follow  the  changing  complexion  of 
the  sea  with  wonderful  fidelity.  Just  as  when  we 
are  speaking  with  a  powerful  personage  from  whom 
we  are  asking  a  favor,  and  who  can  do  us  an  injury, 
our  countenance  involuntarily  reflects  every  expres- 
sion that  passes  over  his,  so  the  thoughts  and  the 
talk  of  all  those  people  were  bright  or  dark,  yellow 
or  gray  or  blue,  according  to  the  color  of  the  sea. 
Most  rightly  do  we  talk  of  "  the  face  of  the  waters," 
for  its  smooth  or  wrinkled  surface,  the  shadows  that 
glance  over  it,  the  pale  or  sombre  tints  that  cover 

245 


246  ©n  Blue  Mater, 

it  on  a  sudden,  do  resemble  to  a  marvellous  degree 
the  movements  of  a  human  face  in  which  are  shown, 
as  in  a  glass,  the  stirring  of  an  unstable,  treacherous 
soul.  How  many  changes  there  are  in  a  few  hours, 
and  yet  fair  weather  all  the  time  !  The  ocean  would 
look  old  and  wearied  out,  and  then  in  a  few  instants 
would  grow  young  again  ;  a  thrill  of  life  would  run 
through  it,  and  change  all  in  a  moment ;  then  it 
would  settle  down  once  more, — be  thoughtful,  pen- 
sive, tired  of  everything,  go  to  sleep ;  then  up  it 
would  start  as  if  disturbed,  angry,  affronted  by  that 
nutshell  full  of  ants  that  was  passing  over  it ;  frown- 
ing as  if  it  meant  to  strike,  and  then  subside  into 
scornful,  smiling  indifference  once  more,  as  who 
should  say  :  "There,  there,  pass  on  ;  I  forgive  you." 
And  the  aspect  of  the  ship  changed  with  these 
changes,  as  if  those  sixteen  hundred  persons  had  had 
one  and  the  same  nervous  system.  At  ten  o'clock, 
all  lying  about,  speechless,  and  with  the  look  of 
those  who  have  nothing  more  to  hope  for  in  this  life, 
they  gave  the  Galileo  the  appearance  of  a  floating 
hospital ;  an  hour  later,  by  reason  of  a  breeze  that 
cleared  the  horizon,  or  a  ray  of  sunlight  that  darted 
down  upon  the  forecastle,  all  on  foot,  all  in  motion, 
amid  such  a  hum  of  joyous  talk  as  was  amazing  even 
to  themselves.  Then,  too,  their  disposition  towards 
us,  and  the  reception  they  gave  us  in  their  part  of 
the  ship,  would  vary  as  phase  succeeded  phase  upon 
the  sea.  In  the  morning,  sour  looks,  backs  rudely 


H  JBlue  Sea.  247 

turned,  words  growled  out  that  meant  a  rooted  hatred 
of  the  signori.  And  then,  in  the  evening  of  the 
same  day,  kindly  glances,  children  bid  make  way, 
and  even  friendly  words  thrown  out  as  if  with  a  de- 
sire to  get  into  conversation.  And  in  this  respect 
we  of  the  after-cabin  did  just  as  they  did.  Some- 
times we  would  look  at  them  with  pitying  eye,  and 
say  within  ourselves :  "  Poor  worthy  creatures ! 
They  are  our  blood  after  all.  What  would  we  not 
do  to  be  of  service  to  them !  How  excellent  and 
admirable  to  be  loved  by  them ! "  And  when,  a 
little  later,  the  clouds  shut  down  and  the  sultry  air 
oppressed  us,  we  would  think :  "  Brutes  !  They 
would  strike  us  dead  where  we  stand  if  they  could. 
And,  like  idiots,  we  go  and  try  to  coax  them  ! " 

But  that  day  the  sea  was  blue,  and  through  the 
moral  transparency,  so  to  speak,  of  these  people's 
good-humor,  there  was  many  a  new  psychological 
observation  to  be  made.  For  please  observe  ;  be- 
neath the  rough  web  of  mere  spite  and  hatred  there 
had  been  woven  in  these  sixteen  days  another,  made 
up  of  sympathy,  of  love,  of  intrigue,  far  more  intri- 
cate and  far  more  highly  colored  than  the  first.  The 
commissary  was  cognizant  of  everything,  or  almost 
everything ;  and  this  either  by  direct  evidence  or 
from  what  was  told  him,  whether  he  asked  it  or  no, 
by  fifteen  or  twenty  gossips,  who  knew  every  bit  of 
scandal,  and  who  filled  the  same  office  in  the  steer- 
age that  the  mother  of  the  piano  player  and  the 


24$  ©n  JBlnc  ' 

agent  did  in  the  after-cabin.  It  was  a  joy  beyond 
price  to  hear  this  gentleman,  as  he  stood  on  the 
bridge  with  his  eye  upon  the  throng,  run  over  the 
gamut  (sfilar  la  corwia)  of  the  passions,  and  point 
out  one  by  one  the  persons  he  alluded  to,  his  speech 
slow  and  measured,  like  a  justice  of  the  peace ;  and 
he  most  grave  and  reverend  in  appearance,  but  most 
comical  in  fact.  The  fore-deck,  all  black  with  peo- 
ple, was  spread  beneath  like  a  vast  roofless  stage, 
fanned  just  then  by  a  gentle  breeze,  in  which  the 
clothes  hung  out  to  dry,  and  the  kerchiefs  and  caps 
of  the  women,  were  flapping  to  and  fro. 

And  he  told  us  about  it.  There  were  not  a  few 
flirtations,  and  these,  being  forced  to  keep  within  the 
bounds  of  the  strictest  propriety,  had  burned  and 
blazed  up,  if  one  may  say  so,  visibly,  as  they  never 
do  in  the  city  or  in  the  country.  There  was  no 
young  woman,  married  or  not,  but  had  her  wooers, 
some  timid,  some  bold  and  pressing,  all  more  or  less 
in  love,  and  all  more  or  less  encouraged  openly  or  on 
the  sly.  This  enforced  continence  and  the  constant 
propinquity  of  so  many  women,  the  disorder  of  their 
dress  in  the  morning  or  during  the  long  midday 
slumber,  and  the  frequent  exposure  of  maternity, 
had  even  roused  passions  for  peasant  women  who 
had  seen  a  half  century  of  life,  and  who  on  land 
would  hardly  have  been  noticed  at  all.  The  young 
girls,  if  they  were  not  absolute  frights,  had  each 
her  circle  of  adorers,  some  of  whom,  after  a  while, 


H  jBlue  Sea,  24$ 

grew  tired,  and  went  off  to  dangle  after  a  new 
beauty,  leaving  place  for  somebody  else,  if  he  chose 
to  occupy  it,  and  so  the  groups  were  always  changing. 
There  were  passing  fancies  and  Platonic  contempla- 
tions whose  object  was  to  kill  the  time ;  and  there 
were  comic  flirtations  got  up  to  amuse  the  company. 
But  there  were  men  who  fell  in  love  so  seriously 
and  so  deeply  that  their  brutal  boldness  almost  de- 
fied the  light  of  day  and  the  regulations  of  disci- 
pline ;  who  were  as  jealous  and  resolute  as  Arabs; 
who  would  brook  no  rival;  and  who  threatened 
rio-ht  and  left  with  naked  knife.  These  had  all 

O 

their  posts  of  vantage,  from  which,  during  the  day, 
when  they  were  forced  to  be  discreet,  they  sat 
glaring  at  the  fair  author  of  their  pangs  like  falcons 
at  their  prey ;  and  even  cursed  and  menaced  those 
who  passed  in  front  of  them.  There  were  even 
some  grizzled  heads,  some  fifty -years-old  plowmen, 
rhinoceros-hided,  who  might  be  supposed  to  have 
outgrown  the  passions  of  youth,  and  who  were  yet 
amorous.  One  of  these,  a  North  countryman,  with 
a  muzzle  like  a  boar,  had  made  a  spectacle  of  him- 
self over  the  peasant  woman  of  Capracotta,  whose 
round  face,  like  an  ill- washed  Madonna,  flushing; 

'  O 

under  the  reflection  of  a  rose-colored  kerchief,  proved 
attractive  to  many  others  ;  her  own  tall,  bearded 
husband  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.  The  two 
singing  girls,  who  went  about  all  day  laughing  with 
everybody,  and  pulled  about  by  everybody,  seemed 


250 


<§>n  Blue  Mater. 


to  take  a  special  pleasure  in  flirting  with  well-be- 
haved husbands.     The  women  hated  them  with  a 


perfect  hatred,  and  apostrophized  them  without  stint 
or  measure  before  their  faces  and  behind  their  backs, 
threatening  to  go  to  the  commissary  and  have  the 
place  cleared  of  them. 


&  36lue  Sea.  251 

But  these  were  not  the  only  ones.  There  were  cer- 
tain "  bold-faced  creatures  from  the  city  "  who  went 
about  in  a  most  shameless  manner.  The  women 
hated  above  all  others  that  ape  of  a  negress  that 
belonged  to  the  Brazilians.  She  only  came  to  meals 
and  in  the  evening;  but  she  had  roused  a  perfect 
volcano  of  repulsive  passion.  "  How  on  earth  did 
she  do  it,"  they  said,  "  with  that  flat  nose  and  general 
ugliness  ? "  A  couple  of  husbands  had  already  come 
to  blows  about  her.  The  wife  of  one  had  made  a 
scene  that  was  heard  down  in  the  engine-room ;  and 
the  wife  of  the  other  had  given  him  a  sounding 
backhander,  for  which,  however,  he  had  reimbursed 
heron  the  spot,  undertaking  to  pay  the  interest  when 
he  got  on  shore.  The  big  Bolognese,  it  is  true,  did 
preserve  a  certain  decorum.  "She  wished,"  said  the 
commissary,  "  to  carry  intact  into  another  world  her 
name  of  rac/aza  unesta"  It  had  got  about  rather 
freely  that  her  heart  had  been  touched  by  a  Swiss 
emigrant ;  she  put  on  the  dignity  of  an  archduchess, 
all  the  more  dignified  and  scornful  as  those  face- 
tious surmises  about  the  contents  of  her  mysterious 
pouch  grew  more  frequent  and  more  insolent. 

There  were  at  the  same  time  many  others  who 
in  love  matters  did  set  a  good  example  ;  girls  well 
brought  up,  or  at  all  events  modest,  properly  courted 
by  decent  young  fellows  who  did  the  bosom  friend 
or  the  serious  wooer  in  all  form,  and  who,  with 
languishing  but  respectful  looks,  spent  the  day  tied 


252  ©n  Blue  Mater* 

to  the  fair  one's  apron-string  under  the  eyes  of  her 
parents.  But  gallantry  in  general  took  a  tone  and 
mien  calculated  to  educate,  rapidly  and  altogether 
badly,  the  crowd  of  young  boys  and  of  girls  from  ten 
to  fourteen  who  were  on  board,  and  who  in  that  pro- 
miscuous throng  saw  and  heard  everything.  The 
lowest  instincts,  kept  under  at  home  by  hard  toil,  or 
dormant  in  the  quiet  solitude  of  the  fields,  were 
awakened  little  by  little  like  adders  in  the  bosoms  of 
all  that  crowded  company,  idle,  and  heated  by  the 
tropical  sun.  The  result  was  vile  in  its  form,  but 
in  substance  it  was  much  the  same  as  is  handed 
round  and  swallowed  like  gilded  pills  in  many  a 
highly  respectable  drawing-room  and  nobody  shocked 
or  scandalized.  *  *  * 

Just  as  we  were  talking  of  him,  my  good  crook- 
back  came  by  with  a  flask  of  oil  in  his  hand  ;  and, 
following  perhaps  the  course  of  his  own  thoughts, 
he  said  to  me :  Scia  sente ;  V  e  pezo  una  bionda 
che  sette  brunne.  "  One  blonde  is  worse  than  seven 
brunettes.—  —But  what  now*  ?  " 

It  was  the  boys  on  the  bow  that  were  clapping 
their  hands,  as  the  topsails,  sky-sails,  and  spencers, 
fore  and  aft,  were  set,  and  the  ship  with  her  white 
wings  spread,  sailed  through  the  blue  sea  in  all  the 
majesty  of  her  beauty.  At  the  same  moment,  as  if 
to  greet  us,  a  flight  of  Brazilian  water  birds  came, 
made  three  circles  round  the  topsail  yards,  and  then 
disappeared.  The  Galileo  had  never  seemed  so  beau- 


H  Blue  Sea.  253 

tiful.  Huge  she  was  and  powerful,  but  the  fine  lines 
of  her  hull  and  her  great  length  gave  her  the  grace 
of  a  gondola.  Her  lofty  masts  with  their  network 
of  cordage  seemed  trunks  of  gigantic  branchless 
palms  entwined  with  leafless  vines,  while  the  wide- 
open  purple  mouths  of  the  wind  funnels  gave  the 
idea  of  colossal  flowers,  attracted  by  America  instead 
of  by  the  sun.  Her  sides  were  rough  and  black  with 
tar,  her  deck  bristled  with  ironwork,  a  dense  cloud 
of  smoke  hung  over  all,  and  the  place  looked  like  a 
vast  manufactory  ;  but  it  was  relieved  by  the  pale 
blue  boats  made  fast  above  the  rail,  by  the  white, 
swelling  wind-sails,  by  the  light  bridge  swaying 
against  the  sky,  by  a  hundred  gleams  from  metal, 
wood,  and  glass ;  by  a  thousand  objects,  strange  in 
shape,  but  every  one  a  useful  implement,  an  orna- 
ment, a  power,  an  industry,  a  defence.  And  the  jar 
of  the  engine,  the  dull  stroke  of  the  cranks,  the 
plunge  of  the  screw,  the  clanking  of  the  rudder  chains, 
the  hiss  of  the  log  line,  the  dry  rattle  of  the  shrouds, 
the  tinkling  of  glass  and  china  in  the  racks,  all  made 
up  a  strange,  vague  sort  of  music  which  charmed  the 
ear  and  entered  into  the  soul  like  the  mysterious 
voices  of  invisible  beings  that  were  hovering  over  us 
and  urging  us  to  labor  and  to  strife.  The  deck  rises 
and  falls  under  our  feet  as  if  it  were  a  body  with 
life,  the  huge  frame  makes  unexpected  and  incompre- 
hensible leaps,  like  the  strivings  of  fear,  rude  un- 
graceful jumps,  as  if  from  vexation,  and  movements 


254  ©n  Blue  Mater. 

of  the  bow  like  the  shaking  of  an  enormous  wonder- 
ing head  ;  and  then,  for  a  long  space  scarcely  seem- 
ing to  touch  the  waves,  will  move  so  still  and  evenly 
upon  the  slow  ground-swell  that  an  ivory  ball  would 
hardly  roll  about  upon  the  deck. 

But  on  she  goes  and  never  stops,  through  cloud 
and  darkness,  right  against  the  winds  and  waves, 
with  a  whole  people  on  her  back,  with  five  thousand 
tons  within  her  bulk — from  one  world  to  the  other, 
guided  without  mistake  by  a  little  bar  of  steel  that 
might  serve  to  cut  open  the  leaves  of  a  book,  and  by 
a  man  who  moves  a  wheel  of  wood,  with  a  turn  of 
the  hand.  We  go  over  in  thought  the  history  of 
navigation,  and  as,  rising  from  the  log  to  the  raft, 
from  the  canoe  to  the  row  galley,  and  so  up  through 
all  the  forms  of  the  ship,  with  the  improvement 
which  centuries  have  given  it,  we  stop  before  the 
last  development  to  compare  it  with  the  early  germ, 
our  hearts  swell  with  amazement  and  admiration, 
and  we  ask  ourselves  what  marvel  of  human  skill  is 
greater  than  this.  More  wonderful  is  the  ship  than 
the  ocean  which  she  cleaves  and  leaves  behind  ;  and 
to  its  ceaseless,  unrelenting  threats  she  replies  with 
the  tireless  clank  of  her  brazen  joints :  "  You  are  vast, 
but  you  are  a  brute.  I  am  little,  but  I  am  a  genius. 
You  separate  worlds,  I  bind  them  together.  You 
surround  me,  but  I  pass  through.  You  are  might, 
but  I  am  knowledge." 

Alas  for  poor  human  pride  !      While  I  was  yet  in 


H  Blue  Sea. 


255 


the  midst  of  these  reflections  a  thrill  ran  from  stem 
to  stern ;  and,  straightway,  there  were   a  hundred 


a  wbccl  of  wood  witb  a  turn  of  tbe  barto." 


scared  faces  and  a  hundred  eager  voices  in  mutual 
inquiry.    The  ship  was  couiing  to  a  stand-still.   Many 


256  <§>u  Blue  Mater. 

rushed  to  the  bulwarks  and  looked  over,  they  knew 
not  why ;  some  ran  to  the  captain  ;  some  ladies  got 
ready  to  faint.  The  ship  stopped.  Impossible  to 
describe  the  grim  effect  of  this  sudden  quiet,  and  how 
like  a  broken  toy  seemed  that  enormous  vessel  im- 
movable and  silent  in  the  midst  of  the  ocean  !  How 
quickly  did  our  confidence  in  the  strength  and  power 
of  man  vanish  away.  And  at  the  same  time  was  re- 
vealed that  evil  trait  in  man's  nature  which  delights 

O 

in  another's  suffering,  as  some  passengers  spread  a  tale 
of  how  the  boiler  was  going  to  burst,  and  the  keel 
was  broken  and  the  water  was  coming  into  the  hold. 
The  women  screamed.  The  relieved  firemen,  coming 
on  deck,  stripped  to  the  waist  and  black  with  coal, 

were  surrounded  and  besieged  with  frightened  in- 

~  ~ 

quiries.  The  officers  went  about  saying  things  which 
were  lost  in  the  outcries  of  the  crowd.  At  last  the 
reassuring  news  was  known  fore  and  aft  that  it  was 

O 

nothing ; — one  of  the  bearings  of  the  main  shaft  was 
hot — it  was  being  put  right — we  would  go  on  again 
in  an  hour.  We  all  breathed  again  and  some  who 
had  turned  pale  shrugged  their  shoulders  and  said 
they  had  thought  so  from  the  first ;  but  the  greater 
part  continued  thoughtful,  as  after  a  wound  or  an  ir- 
regular beating  of  the  heart.  That  engine,  which  no 
one  had  noticed  before,  became  the  theme  of  talk  for 
hundreds,  all  full  of  an  anxious  respect  for  it  that 
was  almost  ridiculous.  For  after  all  it  is  the  heart 
of  the  ship,  is  it  not?  The  officers  are  the  brains, 


H  Blue  Sea.  257 

and  if  the  brains  go  wrong  the  man  may  not  die, 
but  if  the  heart  stop,  good-bye.  And  what  was  the 
engineer's  name.  He  looked  like  a  clever,  experienced 
man — never  spoke — must  have  studied  a  good  deal 
— he  would  pull  us  through — no  fear.  All  praised 
him  without  knowing  anything  about  him.  But  the 
mill-owner  wore  a  pitying  smile  and  shook  his  head 
as  he  swaggered  about  the  deck  with  his  great  stom- 
ach.— "  Italian  machinists !  Well  that  it  was  no 
worse  !  American  or  English,  yes ;  but  the  national 
screwiness  would  not  hear  of  them." — Faltan  pata- 
cones,  said  the  priest.  "Too  poor."  But  in  half  an 
hour  the  conversation  languished.  That  promised 
hour  never  would  come  to  an  end,  and  uneasiness 
supervened  once  more.  "  Does  it  take  all  that  time 
to  cool  a  bearing?"  said  many  who  did  not  even 
know  what  such  a  thing  was  like.  "  "What  on  earth 
are  they  about  down  there  ?  Did  ever  anyone  see 

such  a  lot  of  good-for-nothing ! "    Ah  !  at  last 

the  machine  gives  sign  of  life,  the  screw  turns  over, 
the  sea  foams — Heaven  be  praised,  we  are  moving 


again  ! 


And  yet  to  me  the  most  remarkable  thing  in  this 
episode  was  a  look  exchanged  by  two  persons.  So 
true  is  it  that  the  manifestations  of  the  human  soul 
constitute  the  most  attractive  spectacle  which  man 
can  contemplate.  At  the  very  instant  of  the  unex- 
pected stoppage,  while  yet  no  one  knew  the  cause  of 
it,  and  there  was  good  reason  to  fear  some  serious 


258  <S>n  Blue  Mater. 

accident  had  happened — and  every  one  did  fear  it — 
I  happened  to  be  on  the  piazzetta  and  saw  my  next- 
door  neighbor  below  turn  to  look  at  his  wife,  who 
was  above  him,  leaning  on  the  rail  of  the  poop-deck ; 
and  she,  as  if  she  had  expected  his  glance,  fixed  her 
eyes  upon  him.  It  was  one  of  those  looks  which 
reveal  the  soul  as  the  ray  under  the  spectroscope 
reveals  the  chemical  nature  of  the  substance  that 
yields  the  flame.  It  was  not  anxiety,  it  was  not  fear, 
not  even  a  hesitating  curiosity.  It  was  a  cold,  tran- 
quil glance,  which  showed  the  utter  indifference  of 
each  for  the  other,  even  in  the  face  of  an  unknown 
danger  which  might  end  in  death.  Each  had  said 
to  the  other  with  the  eyes:  "I  know  that  it  would 
be  nothing  to  you  to  lose  me.  You  know  that  I 
would  care  just  as  little  about  parting  with  you." 
After  which  the  wife  moved  from  the  rail  and  the 
husband  looked  another  way. 

This  would  have  been  their  last  farewell  if  a  mis- 
chance had  separated  them  forever.  But  what  could 
have  come  to  pass  between  these  two  that  they 
should  hate  one  another  thus  and  yet  remain  united  ? 
This  question  kept  coming  back  to  my  mind  in  spite 
of  all  that  I  could  do.  And  I  reached  the  conclusion 
that  there  must  be  children  in  the  case  that  forced 
them  to  keep  together  ;  most  probably  an  only  son, 
a  bond  more  powerful  than  when  there  are  several. 
That  eternal,  forced,  almost  trembling  smile  that  she 
wore  inspired  everyone  with  more  or  less  repug- 


H  Blue  Sea.  259 

nance,  although  she,  divining  this  sentiment,  strove 
to  give  her  countenance  a  look  of  kindly  sadness  as 
if  she  were  in  grief  but  resigned  to  misconstruction. 
He  spoke  with  hardly  anyone.  He  appeared  em- 
barrassed and  ill  at  ease,  as  are  all  those  who  know 
that  their  trouble  is  plainly  enough  to  be  seen,  but 
are  ashamed  of  it  and  angry  at  being  pitied.  One 
could  see,  moreover,  by  a  certain  fleeting  expression 
in  his  eye  and  mouth,  that  he  had  been  in  times 
past  of  a  frank,  open  disposition  and  inclined  to 
cheerful  friendliness — perhaps  even  a  really  good 
fellow ;  but  that  all  the  springs  of  his  nature  were 
broken  or  worn  out  in  this  long  contest  with  an  ad- 
versary stronger  and  more  obstinate  than  he.  It 
was  easy  in  fact  to  see  that  he  feared  his  wife  and 
that  she  did  not  fear  him.  This  was  discernible  in 
the  uneasy  glances  which  he  cast  around  whenever 
he  exchanged  a  few  words  with  the  Argentine  or 
the  Brazilian  lady,  with  whom  he  was  on  those  terms 
of  sad  and  kindly  respect  which  a  man  not  happy 
with  his  own  wife  is  apt  to  observe  towards  those 
of  other  men ;  perceiving  in  each  of  them  the  image 
of  a  happiness,  or  at  least  a  content,  which  cannot  be 
his.  And  this  shrinking  as  of  an  ill-treated  child 
was  all  the  more  piteous  when  seen  in  a  tall,  strong 
man,  who  even  yet  bore  in  his  countenance  the  traces 
of  manly  beauty.  A  close  look  at  him  showed  that 
frequent  trembling  of  the  lip,  usual  in  men  accus- 
tomed to  subdue  anger,  and  the  long,  fixed  look  at 


260  <sm  Blue  Mater. 

vacancy,  which  means  deep  melancholy  and  contem- 
plated suicide.  And  he  never  displayed  weariness 
or  vexation,  like  the  other  passengers ;  he  seemed  as 
indifferent  to  time  as  a  condemned  criminal.  I 
should  not  have  wondered  to  see  him,  at  any  mo- 
ment, fling  himself  under  the  crank  of  the  engine. 
Perhaps  at  home  some  occupation,  or  some  work,  or 
some  vice,  if  you  please,  may  have  served  as  a  diver- 
sion and  enabled  him  for  a  few  hours,  at  all  events, 
to  be  out  of  sight  of  his  wife.  But  there,  on  those 
half-dozen  square  yards  of  deck,  forced  to  see  and 
be  in  constant  contact  with  her,  to  hate  and  to  be 
hated  in  open  view  of  everybody,  to  breathe  her 
breath  in  a  dark  and  airless  dungeon, — this  was  soli- 
tary confinement,  the  oar,  the  pillory,  all  in  one. 
And  not  a  soul  to  speak  to.  He  had  not  confided 
anything  to  a  single  individual,  or  it  would  have 
been  known  ;  for  everyone  was  devouringly  anxious 
to  penetrate  his  secret.  And  she,  too,  said  not  a 
word.  They  were  two  sealed  sepulchres,  in  each  of 
which  there  was  a  living  monster  that  writhed,  but 
asked  for  neither  aid  nor  pity. 

That  night,  however,  I  thought  I  was  about  to 
penetrate  the  mystery.  The  breeze  had  fallen,  the 
sea  slept ;  so  that  late  in  the  evening,  when  we  went 
below,  the  ship  moved  on  without  strain  or  creak; 
and  the  slightest  sound  could  be  heard  in  the  next 

O 

stateroom  ;  just  as  in  those  queer  little  inns  with 
wooden  partitions  in  certain  cities  on  the  Rhine,  in 


H  3Blue  Sea.  261 

which,  as  travellers  are  warned  by  their  guide-books, 
"it  is  as  well  to  be  discreet."  When  I  entered  my 
room  I  heard  the  muffled  voice  of  the  lady  speaking 
rapidly  in  a,  harsh,  monotonous  tone,  recalling  the  past, 
and  mentioning  facts  and  names  as  if  she  were  over- 
whelming him  with  reproach  ;  and  then  the  husband 
saying  in  a  low  voice  from  time  to  time,  "Not  true, 
not  true,  not  true  !  "  But  as  her  upbraidings  grew 
more  bitter,  his  denials  too  became  more  fierce  and 
hurried.  The  unhappy  man,  unable  to  cope  with 
her,  and  not  caring  any  longer,  as  it  would  seem,  to 
preserve  his  manly  dignity,  was  reduced  to  the 
miserable,  womanish  defence  of  saying  the  same 
thin"1  over  and  over  ao;ain,  lest  his  silence  should 

O  O  ' 

bring  worse  upon  him.  But  suddenly  he  started 
up  and  poured  out  a  flood  of  words,  unintelligible, 
furious,  outrageous,  desperate;  ending  in  a  snarl  like 
a  mad  dog  that  made  me  shudder.  He  was  biting 
his  fingers ;  and  she  only  laughed.  I  stood  a  mo- 
ment expecting  the  sound  of  blows  or  the  gasping  of 
the  woman  as  he  seized  her  by  the  throat.  But  I 
heard  instead  his  voice  in  humble  supplication,  pro- 
nouncing over  and  over  asrain  a  single  name — Attilio 

O  O  O 

—the  voice  of  a  man  who  acknowledges  himself 
beaten,  w7ho  begs  for  mercy,  who  yields  everything, 
so  only  one  favor  may  be  granted  him.  Attilio  must 
have  been  a  son,  and  his  father  one  of  those  men, 
otherwise  strong  of  mind,  whom  paternal  love  makes 
timid,  and  bows  with  pinioned  arms  beneath  the 


262  ©n  Blue  Mater. 

scourge  of  a  woman  capable  of  stabbing  him  to  death 
at  that  one  weak  point.  It  seemed  impossible  that 
the  woman  should  not  have  responded  with  some 
affection  to  that  piteous  cry ;  and  I  listened  closely ; 
but  there  was  no  answer.  A  berth  creaked; — the 
lady  wife  had  gone  to  bed  without  a  word.  Then  I 
heard  a  noise  as  of  a  hand  searching  in  a  valise ;  and 
I  thought,  perhaps,  he  might  be  getting  out  a  re- 
volver. But  she  was  silent.  The  poor  wretch  had 
not  even  the  sorry  comfort  of  being  supposed  capable 
of  doing  anything  desperate.  While  I  was  anxiously 
awaitinor  the  end  of  all  this,  there  came  someone  to 

O  ' 

the  door  of  the  stateroom,  and  by  the  swinging  lamp 
I  recognized  the  agent. 

I  did  not  properly  catch  what  he  said  at  first,  for 
I  was  attending  to  my  neighbors;  but  no  report  was 
heard ;  perhaps  the  man's  courage  had  failed  him  as 
it  had  often  done  before  ;  and  I  caught,  instead,  a 
sound  as  of  one  that  sinks  down  overpowered,  and 
the  slap  of  a  hand  upon  a  forehead.  The  agent  took 
no  notice.  He  had  something  else  to  think  of.  He 

O 

had  come  to  me  to  blow  off  his  vexation.  That 
stateroom  of  his  had  become  uninhabitable — for  a 
man.  He  had  slipped  on  an  overcoat  and  paced  the 
corridor  for  half  an  hour  in  slippers,  hoping  that  his 
neighbors  would  go  to  sleep.  "  Spanish  Grammar?" 
I  ventured.  Exactly — Spanish  Grammar,  that,  and 
nothing  else,  but  they  came  to  the  interjection  chapter 
too  often.  He  wished  that  the  wife,  ridiculous  little 


B  Blue  Sea,  263 

Lucca  image  that  she  was,  would  have  done  with 
saying  Ave  Maria.  The  worst  of  it  was  that  for  the 
first  few  days  his  coughing  and  banging  with  his 
elbow  against  the  bulkhead  had  kept  them  some- 
what in  order ;  but  now  they  had  got  used  to  it  and 
did  not  care  a  bit.  They  went  on  as  if  they  were  in 
a  "  private  room  "  at  the  restaurant,  munched  sweet- 
meats brought  away  from  the  table,  and  sipped 
rosolio.  It  seemed  as  if  they  were  having  private 
gymnastics,  with  their  jumping  and  tearing  about. 
Who  would  think  that  such  demure  little  wretches 
as  they  seemed  above  on  deck,  could  behave  so  like 
imps.  He  meant  to  be  revenged  the  next  day;  he 
was  going  to  make  their  lives  a  burden  to  them  from 
one  end  of  the  deck  to  the  other;  and  at  table  make 
them  as  red  as  two  turkey  cocks  at  every  mouthful. 
The  little  hypocrites.  And  he  must  do  the  walking. 
But  he  had  not  lost  his  time.  Coming  out  of  his 

o 

room  he  had  seen  a  white  figure  disappear  at  the  end 
of  the  cross  corridor,  and  had  recognized  the  Swiss 

-  O 

lady.  Had  not  made  out  at  what  door  she  slipped 
in.  Could  not  have  been  that  of  the  gentleman 
with  the  eyeglasses,  for  the  Argentines  were  all 
together  in  the  gauche? s  room,  whence  issued  a  clink- 
ing of  tumblers ; — nor  that  of  the  little  Tuscan,  since 
he  for  a  couple  of  evenings  had  been,  at  this  hour, 
going  forward,  where  he  had  a  beat.  Suspected  the 
descendant  of  the  Incas,  but  was  not  sure.  As  to 
the  professor  he  was  probably  on  deck  looking  for 


264  ©n  JBlue  Mater* 

falling  stars ;  for  whenever  he  was  in  her  way,  the  lady 
would  find  the  stateroom  very  close  indeed  for  two 
persons,  and  then  up  he  went  to  study  the  heavens. 

In  short  it  was  a  busy  night;  no  one  was  asleep, 
and  there  would  be  plenty  of  material  for  gossip  in 
the  morning.  He  had  already  seen  the  mother  of 
the  piano  player  putting  her  head  out  of  her  room 
door,  and  peering  up  and  down  with  a  viperous  curi- 
osity. Ah  !  apropos  ;  he  had  his  eye  on  the  daugh- 
ter, whose  face  lighted  up  when  somebody  passed 
by ;  but  who  that  somebody  was  he  could  not  make 
out,  because  just  when  he  had  seen  that  lighting 
up  several  people  had  passed  by,  and  the  foxy 
creature  was  so  quick  to  veil  her  regard  that  he 
could  not  catch  the  direction.  Yes,  a  fruitless  little 
passion,  a  suppressed  fire  ;  she  was  tied  fast ;  it  would 
all  end  in  a  letter,  and  a  snip  of  her  scissors.  But 
there  really  was  something  going  on,  and  he  meant 
to  find  out  more  about  it.  Oh,  yes !  Had  I  not 
heard?  The  Neapolitan  priest  had  been  sent  for  in 
a  great  hurry.  He  had  rushed  out  like  a  great 
dromedary,  putting  on  his  cassock  as  he  went.  Some 
one  must  be  ill  among  the  emigrants.  "  Basta,"  he 
said,  in  conclusion,  "I  'in  going  up  to  the  pantry  to 
have  a  glass  of  beer  and  then  I  '11  come  down  and 
see  if  they  Ve  got  quiet.  May  they  die  without 
benefit  of  clergy  (acddenti^  !  Good-night." 

It  was  a  dreadful  night.  Twelve  o'clock,  and 
almost  everyone  awake.  The  sultriness  oppressed 


a  Blue  Sea,  265 

us  all.  And  because  that  was  not  enough,  the 
cabin  seemed  turned  into  a  great  whispering  gal- 
lery in  which  every  sigh  sounded  loud  and  was 
heard  from  one  end  of  the  corridor  to  the  other. 
In  the  stateroom  behind  mine  the  mill -owner 
was  snoring  away,  every  now  and  then  groan- 
ing aloud  and  exclaiming:  "All!  povra  Italia!" 
which  seemed  to  be  the  dirge  of  his  hope.  From 
time  to  time  I  heard  the  feeble  cous-h  of  the 

O 

young  lady  from  Mestre,  whose  room  was  on  the 
other  side  of  the  ship.  The  youngest  child  of  the 
Brazilian  lady,  a  little  ailing,  would  cry  and  then  the 
doleful  lullaby  of  the  black  nurse  would  be  heard — 
a  kind  of  hoopoe  sob  which  made  me  think  of  the 
lamentable  wailings  of  African  slaves  shut  up  in  the 
hold  of  sailing  vessels  becalmed  under  the  Equator. 
Opposite  me,  on  the  other  side  of  the  corridor,  the 
advocate  and  the  tenor  were  chatting  without  the 
least  consideration,  and  I  made  out  that  they  were 
talking  of  Greece.  "  George  Byron  ! "  I  heard 
someone  say,  and  then  the  advocate  cried  out, 
"So  you  do  not  believe  in  the  power  of  panslav- 
ism?"  "Oh!"  said  the  other,  "don't  talk  to  me 
of  panslavism.  For  your  guidance,  you  need  never 
men-ti-on  pan-slav-ism  to  me."  I  caught  fragments 
of  conversation  between  the  Neapolitan  priest  and 
the  Chilian,  each  at  the  door  of  his  own  room : 
Ciiando  se produce  un  movimiento  de  baja  en  el  pretio 
del  oro  sellado. 


266  ©n  Blue  Mater. 

At  last  they  were  all  quiet.  But  if  one  do  not  go 
to  sleep  at  once  in  these  sultry  nights  in  those  close 
staterooms  it  is  useless  to  hope  for  anything  better 
than  a  dreadful  kind  of  doze,  in  which  sight  and 
hearing  are  dulled  but  not  dead,  and  dreams,  if  they 
can  be  called  dreams,  take  us  in  dizzy  sweep  from 
where  we  are  to  our  house  at  home,  and  from  our 
house  far  out  to  sea  again,  with  a  vividness  and  a 
rudeness  of  disenchantment  which  is  a  real  torture. 
And  how  often,  years  after,  when  we  are  at  home 
again,  we  have  these  same  dreams,  as  if  they  were 
glimpses  of  another  world  stamped  indelibly  upon 
our  brains  like  real  events,  distinct  from  thousands 
of  others  in  this  life.  And  there  comes  back  to  me  the 
noise  of  the  water  against  the  ship's  side,  a  few  in- 
ches from  my  ear;  and  which,  in  the  unusual  silence 
of  the  ship,  sounded  clearer  than  ever  ;  a  long,  steady 
murmur,  which  broke  sometimes  into  words,  into 
suppressed  laughings,  into  low  hissing,  and  then  died 
away  into  the  faintest  rustling;  when,  whack,  there 
came  a  furious  blow,  and  then  once  more  a  voice,  as  of 
prayer,  as  if  the  monster  wrere  entreating  entrance, 
swearing  that  he  would  do  nobody  any  harm,  promis- 
ing to  be  good.  Ah,  the  hypocrite  !  And  still,  without 
rest,  he  scrapes  and  strokes  and  rubs  and  rasps  and 
licks  and  flaps  and  taps  and  searches  for  a  hole, 
and  fumes  and  frets  to  find  all  tight  and  sound,  and 
bemoans  himself,  and  wonders  that  he  is  not  trusted  ; 
and  then,  losing  patience,  he  begins  once  more  to 


H  Blue  Sea.  267 

rage  and  threaten  and  beat  at  the  door  like  an  angry 
master  of  the  house. 

And  with  this  ceaseless  babble  there  are  mingled 
all  sorts  of  suspicious  sounds,  the  door-knob,  the 
water-jug,  the  swinging  lamp,  and  every  now  and 
then  you  would  swear  there  is  somebody  in  the  room 
rummaging  your  trunks.  You  rouse  yourself  and 
find  that  there  is  indeed  some  one  coming  in.  It  is 
the  watchman  who  is  making  his  rounds  to  see  if 
the  air-ports  are  closed.  He  gives  a  look  and  goes 
out  again.  And  then  you  hear  other  sounds  on  deck ; 
hasty  steps,  as  of  people  running  at  an  alarm,  un- 
intelligible noises  which,  in  the  silence  of  night, 
seem  tremendous,  and  make  you  think  some  accident 
has  happened.  Passengers  get  up,  look  out,  go  on 
deck,  and  then  come  down  again.  It  is  nothing  at 
all.  A  couple  of  sailors  hauling  a  rope.  You  shut 
your  eyes  and  begin  to  doze  once  more,  and  wake 
up  with  a  start  at  a  stunning,  terrible  din.  What 
has  happened, — a  boiler  burst  ?  Quarter  smashed 
in  ?  No,  a  rain  squall.  Ah  !  at  last,  then,  we  can 
sleep !  But  through  the  port  a  pale,  ashy  streak  is 
seen.  The  day  glimpse  glimmers.  Maledizione  I 
—Five  days  more ! 


CHAPTER   XV 


DEATH    ON    BOARD 

IVE  days  more  !  This  was  the 
exclamation  of  everyone  that 
i aoriiing  ;  and  the  five  days  that 
yet  remained  seemed  longer  than 
the  eighteen  that  had  passed. 

For  it  must  be  remembered  that, 

in  virtue  of  some  psychic  law  or  other,  the  slow 
growth  of  tedium  and  general  weariness  had  been 
going  on  unperceived  even  in  the  intervals  of  fine 
weather  and  of  good  humor.  "When  these  were  at 
an  end,  the  pressure  of  the  hateful  burden,  far  from 
being  alleviated,  was  felt  once  more  just  as  if  it  had 
constantly  been  bearing  on  us,  and  all  the  heavier 
for  the  time  that  had  elapsed.  That  eighteenth  day, 
too,  gave  promise  of  ill.  Clouds,  gray  and  black, 
made  a  low,  hanging  vault  over  the  ocean,  which 
had  in  some  places  the  color  of  well-shaken  oil,  in 
others  looked  like  moistened  ashes,  or  now  and  then 
like  a  sea  of  blackish  bitumen  which  rose  and  sank 

268 


JDeatb  on  Boarfc.  269 

like  the  pitch  in  the  tank  of  the  barrators.1  Forward 
and  aft,  groups  were  formed  and  news  was  circu- 
lating. The  old  Piedmontese  peasant  had  died  dur- 
ing the  night,  of  pleurisy.  The  death  certificate  had 
been  drawn  up  and  signed  by  two  witnesses  that 
morning,  at  dawn,  in  the  chart-room,  after  due  verifi- 
cation by  the  doctor.  This  event,  though  well  known 
to  be  not  infrequent  on  that  long  voyage  and  among 
so  many  people,  was,  nevertheless,  a  source  of  dis- 
quietude, as  if  everyone  were  threatened.  The  doc- 
tor was  detained  on  the  piazzetta  by  the  ladies  who 
wished  to  hear  about  it ;  and,  with  that  placid  face 
of  his,  like  a  mild  Xicotera,  he  told  the  story.  It  was 
a  piteous  scene.  The  old  man  had  wished  to  see 
the  young  lady  from  Mestre  before  he  died,  in  order 
to  give  her  his  papers  and  the  little  money  he  had, 
to  be  sent  to  his  son.  But  his  last  moments  were 
an  agony  of  despair.  No  efforts  of  the  priest  could 
induce  him  to  be  resigned  to  death.  In  the  looks 

O 

lie  cast  upon  those  near  him,  and  on  that  strange 
hospital  where  he  was  lying,  there  wTas  an  immeas- 
urable anguish,  the  terror  of  a  child  at  having  to 
die  there  in  mid-ocean  where  there  could  be  no  burial 
for  him.  He  clutched  with  both  hands  the  arm  of 
the  young  lady,  saying  at  the  last  only,  Oil  mefienl! 
Oli  me  pover  fieul !  "  O  my  son  !  O  my  poor  son  ! " 
and  rolled  his  head  from  side  to  side  in  utter  desola- 
tion. His  face  after  death  remained  bathed  in  tears 

1  Dante,  Inf.,  xxii. 


270  ©n  Blue  Mater* 

and  distorted  with  terror.  The  young  lady  had 
almost  to  be  carried  on  deck,  and  could  hardly  drag 
herself  back  to  her  room. 

I  went  forward.  Here  there  was  the  little  com- 
motion that  may  be  seen  in  the  square,  of  a  morning 
when  some  crime  has  been  committed  overnight;  a 
gathering  and  a  low,  eager  whispering  of  women, 
who  showed  under  the  mask  of  sadness  a  certain 
satisfaction  at  having  something  unusual  to  discuss, 
a  satisfaction  that  is  always  greater  when  it  is  news 
of  death.  They  talked  about  the  funeral  and  when 
it  was  to  be,  how  performed,  on  which  side  he  was 
to  be  thrown  over,  and  whether  feet  foremost  or  no. 
And  there  were  the  most  extraordinary  conjectures. 
He  was  to  be  thrown  overboard  naked,  with  a  can- 
non-ball at  his  neck  ;  they  were  to  leave  him  float- 
ing in  a  chest,  tarred  as  the  law  prescribed  to  pro- 
tect him  from  the  fishes.  Some  said  there  were 
sharks  already  about  the  ship,  attracted  by  the  smell 
of  the  body ;  and  some  looked  to  see  if  it  were  so. 
There  were  crowds  at  the  door  of  the  sick  bay,  wish- 
ing to  go  down  and  see  the  corpse,  but  a  sailor  was 
posted  there  to  prevent  them.  Meanwhile,  on  the 
forecastle,  the  old  man  in  the  green  jacket,  with  his 
usual  circle  of  hearers,  harangued  and  cursed,  with 
his  finger  in  the  air.  "  One  less  !  AVe  are  getting 
on.  The  flesh  of  the  poor  flung  to  the  fishes  !  They 
meant  from  the  first  that  this  one  should  die.  It  's 
my  belief  they  did  not  give  him  anything  to  eat." 


S>eatb  on  3Boar&.  271 

He  declared,  moreover,  that  instead  of  good  soup  they 
sent  the  man  dish-water ;  and  that  they  had  let  him 
die  without  a  pillow  under  his  head.  Moreover,  cer- 
tain telltales  whispered  that  evening  how  he  had  in- 
sinuated a  suspicion  that  this  was  not  the  first  death 
that  had  happened  this  voyage ;  but  that  the  others 
had  been  kept  quiet,  and  the  bodies  thrown  over- 
board at  dead  of  night  from  the  poop-deck.  "  But 
the  day  of  reckoning  will  come,"  he  loudly  declared, 
and  be  with  his  hearers  flashed  such  glances  at  me 
that  I  desisted  from  trying  to  hear  more  just  then, 
and  went  to  get  news  of  little  Galileo. 

I  found  the  father  at  the  door  of  the  stateroom  in 
the  second  cabin,  seated  on  a  box,  with  one  of  the 
twins  between  his  knees,  and  a  pipe  in  his  mouth. 
"The  lad  is  quite  well,"  he  said,  with  a  smiling  face; 
and  then,  with  a  wink  towards  the  forecastle,  whence 
voices  were  to  be  heard,  he  said  in  an  undertone : 
Ghe  xe  dele  teste  calde — "  There  are  some  hotheads 
there."  And  he  went  on  in  his  northern  dialect : 
"  For  my  part,  when  once  I  am  in  the  new  world, 
why  should  I  trouble  my  head  because  things  go 
badly  in  the  old  ? "  This  question  was  a  feeler.  He 
wished  to  know  whether  I  were  a  wron^-headed 

O 

signore,  or  such  a  one  as  could  be  reasoned  with. 
But  without  any  other  answer  from  me  than  a  nod 
of  the  head,  he  went  on  eagerly  and  frankly,  as  if 
my  look  had  inspired  confidence  : 

Per  conto  mio  de  mi.  "  You  gentlemen,  saving  your 


272  ©n  Blue  Mater* 

presence,  are  wrong  to  spread  such  idle  reports  about 
America,  and  how  they  die  of  hunger  there,  and  how 
they  come  back  more  miserable  than  ever,  and  how 
there  is  the  plague  there,  and  how  the  government 
is  a  set  of  traitors  and  despots  (e  cussi  via)  and  so 
forth.  What  is  the  next  thing  ?  The  next  thing  is 
that  when  a  letter  comes  from  someone  over  there, 
how  they  are  getting  on  and  making  (bessi)  money, 
why  nobody  believes  any  more  what  the  siori  say, 
even  when  it  is  true ;  they  suspect  that  it  is  all  a 
trick,  that  the  contrary  is  true,  and  i  parte  a  mile  a 
la  volta — they  go  out  by  thousands." 

I  told  him  he  was  quite  right,  and  that  if  nothing 
but  the  truth  were  spoken  it  is  probable  that  fewer 
would  have  gone  over.  "  And  you  have  pretty 
good  prospects,  I  suppose  ? " 

"  Mi  f  "  he  answered.  "  This  is  the  way  I  look  at 
it.  I  can't  find  anything  worse  than  I  leave.  The 
worst  that  can  happen  is  to  starve,  as  I  did  at  home. 
Dighio  ben  f  " 

Then,  refilling  his  pipe:  I ga  un  bel  dir :  No  emi- 
gre, no  emigre.  "  It 's  no  use  their  saying,  Don't  emi- 
grate, don't  emigrate."  The  Cavaliere  Careti  made 
me  laugh.  [Who  should  this  Cavaliere  Careti  be  ?] 
'  You  're  wrong,'  he  said,  '  you  're  wrong.'  He  told 
me  that  every  emigrant  who  went  over  took  four  hun- 
dred francs  capital  with  him.  'You  are  going,'  he 
said, '  to  produce  and  to  consume  out  of  your  country. 
You  do  it  wrong.'  Cossa  ghe  par  a  lu!  de  sta  maniera 


'fit's  no  use  tbeir  easing,  E>on't  emigrate,  fcon't  emigrate." 


274  <S>n  Blue  Mater. 

di  razonar,  la  me  diga. — I  only  ask  you  what  you 
think  of  an  argument  like  that.  He  said,  too,  I  was 
wrong  to  complain  of  the  taxes,  for  the  "higher  they 
were  the  more  the  contadino  worked  and  the  more 
he  produced.  Piavolce,  la  me  scma,  digo  mi.  All 
nonsense,  saving  your  reverence,  say  I.  I  do  not 
know  anything  about  these  things.  I  only  know 
that  I  work  the  flesh  off  my  bones  and  do  not 
get  enough  food  for  my  wife  and  myself.  I  emigrate 
to  get  something  to  eat.  You  advise  me  to  wait  un- 
til you  have  reclaimed  Sardinia  and  the  Maremma, 
put  the  Roman  territory  under  cultivation,  and 
opened  co-operative  banks  and  bakers'  shops,  and 
then  the  government  will  go  right  on  to  help  agri- 
culture. But  what  if  I  have  nothing  to  eat  the 
while  ? — Oh  crose  de  din  e  de  dia  !  How  can  a  man 
wait  if  he  is  starving  ? " 

Encouraged  by  my  approval,  he  branched  out  a 
little,  and  began  setting  forth  those  general  ideas 
with  which  everyone  of  his  class  has  his  head  more 
or  less  confusedly  filled  as  to  why  things  go  so  badly  ; 
everything  spent  to  keep  soldiers ;  heaps  of  millions 
for  guns  and  ships ;  and  then  zo  tasse,  the  taxes, 
the  poor  not  considered  at  all ;  the  usual  thing,  but 
then  it  never  sounds  so  true  or  so  sad  as  when  we 
hear  it  from  one  who  has  experience  in  his  own 
trouble  of  its  effects,  and  to  whom  we  can  offer  no 
consolation,  not  even  words.  And  while  he  told  me 
how,  after  a  day  of  toil,  he  found  on  the  table  noth- 


Beatb  on  Boarfc,  275 

ing  but  onion  broth,  and  was  kept  awake  at  night 
by  hunger,  and  did  not  "  venture "  to  eat  lest  he 
should  take  the  bread  out  of  the  mouths  of  his  chil- 
dren, who  had  not  enough  as  it  was,  I  reflected  how 
little,  had  his  case  been  rny  own,  I  should  have  cared 
for  historical  necessity  and  the  sacrifice  of  the  pres- 
ent for  the  future,  and  for  national  dignity  and  all 
the  rest  of  it.  Society,  which  demanded  such  sacri- 
fices of  him,  had  not  even  taught  him  to  understand 
them ;  and  it  would  have  been  insulting  his  misery 
to  try  and  explain.  And  I  listened  to  him  with  that 
feeling  of  shame  which  is  justly  ours  when  we  are 
told  of  the  troubles  of  the  poor ;  for  does  not  our 
own  conscience  tell  us  that  this  great  injustice, 
though  we  cannot,  even  in  imagination,  devise  a 
remedy  for  it,  is  nevertheless  an  inherited  respon- 
sibility. 

"  O,  no,"  he  said,  shaking  his  head.  Come  che 
xe  el  mondo  adesso,  la  xe  una  roba  die  no  pol  durar — 
La  ghe  va  massa  mal  a  tropa  zente. — "  Things  can- 
not go  on  so.  It  is  too  hard  upon  too  many  people." 
And  then  he  told  me  of  misery  that  he  saw  around 
him  ;  pitiful  stories  which  he  heard  in  the  steerage, 
—so  pitiful  that  his  case  seemed  fortunate  by  com- 
parison. There  were  some  who  for  years  had  not 
eaten  meat ;  who  for  years  had  not  worn  a  shirt  ex- 
cept on  festa  days  ;  who  never  slept  in  a  bed  ;  and 
who  yet  toiled  grimly  all  the  while.  There  were 
some  who  when  their  passage  was  paid  would  reach 


276  <§>n  Blue  Mater. 

America  with  a  couple  of  scudi ;  and  who  every  day 
put  by  a  bit  of  biscuit  in  a  bag  that  they  might,  on 
landing,  if  they  did  not  soon  find  work,  have  a 
morsel  to  eat  without  begging  for  it.  He  knew,  he 
said,  not  one  but  many  who,  that  they  might  not  be 
barefoot  when  they  reached  America,  kept  their  one 
pair  of  broken  shoes  tied  round  their  feet  with 
strings,  and  slept  with  them  under  their  pillow  at 
night,  lest  they  should  be  stolen.  E  la  senta,  he 
added,  ghe  xe  de  qitelli  die  i  gN  lia  fato  tanto  cativa 
vita,  dw  i  xe  partii  tropo  tardi,  e  i  va  in  America  a 
farse  sotemr — "  There  are  some  who  have  led  such 
evil  lives  that  it  is  too  late,  and  they  are  going  to 
America  only  to  be  buried."  Then  he  pointed  out 
to  me  a  peasant  of  about  forty  years  old,  a  short  dis- 
tance off,  bareheaded,  dripping  with  sweat,  and 
holding  his  head  in  his  wasted,  trembling  hands. 

O  O 

He  had  a  bad  fever  which  never  left  him,  caught  in 
the  rice  fields,  and  he  could  keep  nothing  on  his 
stomach.  One  night  (but  no  one  must  know)  he 
himself  had  seized  the  poor  fellow  when  he  was 
nearly  overboard.  He  had  tried  to  throw  himself 
into  the  sea,  and  since  then  his  wife  never  let  him 
out  of  her  sight.  Poor  woman.  She  was  more  to 
be  pitied  than  he.  La  varda  ela,  die  robete  !  Just 
think  of  that  ! 

All  this  he  snid  sadly,  but  without  bitterness; 
not  at  all  to  propitiate  me,  but  simply  from  that 
vague  notion,  partly  religious,  partly  intuitive,  but 


S)eatb  on  3Boar&.  277 

common  amongst  his  class,  that  the  wretchedness  of 
the  masses  is  the  way  of  the  world,  like  pain  and 
death  ;  that  it  is  a  condition  necessary  to  the  exist- 
ence of  the  human  race,  and  that  no  social  adjust- 
ment can  change  it. 

"  Ah,  well,"  he  concluded,  "  God  be  good  to  us  ! 
If  I  could  only  find  in  America  such  brava  zente 
as  I  have  found  on  board  here  !  For  hark  ye,  sior 
paron,  if  that  poor  sick  lass  (putela)  do  not  go  to 
heaven  it  is  because  they  do  not  let  anybody  in  any 
more.  Why,  she  sends  broth  to  the  nursing  mothers, 
and  money  (bessi)  to  the  poor  people,  and  linen  to 
those  that  have  not  any.  She  is  a  blessing  to  us  all. 
Ma  co  '  glie  digo  mi  che  el  mondo  va  mal.  Un  anzolo 
compagno,  die  tocara  morir  zovene.  Did  I  not  say 
that  there  was  something  wrong  in  the  world  ?  An 
angel  like  that  to  die  so  young  !  I  'in  coming,  chat- 
terbox," he  cried  turning  to  the  stateroom.  "  Con 
parmeso,  paron.  My  wife  is  calling  me.  La  se 
varda,  che  a  momenti  se  verze  le  catarate  I  Look 
out,  we  shall  have  a  torrent  of  rain  in  a  moment !  " 

And,  sure  enough,  there  came,  all  on  a  sudden, 
from  the  gray  sky,  a  shower  of  huge  drops  as  large 
as  grapes,  and  then  a  roaring  downpour  of  thickest 
rain,  veiling  everything  as  if  the  ship  had  sailed 
into  a  cloud.  A  crowd  of  passengers  surged  noisily 
into  the  covered  way  where  I  stood,  and,  driving 
me  forward  a  dozen  paces,  surrounded  and  im- 
prisoned me,  darkling,  and  in  the  midst  of  wet 


27$  ©n  Blue  Mater, 

jackets  and  a  strong  smell  of  poverty.  And  then 
occurred  a  memorable  scene.  It  was  not  ten  minutes 
before  a  movement  of  the  crowd  and  an  outbreak  of 
hooting  and  laughing  bespoke  a  quarrel ;  and,  rising 
on  tiptoe,  I  saw  a  hand  in  air  falling  with  rapid  and 
regular  movement  on  the  bowed  neck  of  some  in- 
visible form,  like  a  sledge  hammer  on  an  anvil. 
"  Who  is  it  ?  What  is  it  ?  "  Everybody  was  clamor- 
ing ;  nothing  could  be  made  out.  A  couple  of  sailors 
ran  up,  the  commissary  followed,  the  combatants 
were  separated  and  led  away  amidst  the  shouts  of 
the  bystanders.  Supposing,  of  course,  that  they 
would  be  taken  to  the  "hall  of  judgment/' I  ran 
there,  too,  and  making  a  short  cut  through  the  third 
class  reached  the  place  just  as  the  culprits  did,  and 
was  amazed  to  see  in  these  the  father  of  the  Genoese 
girl,  panting  with  rage,  and  that  poor  little  Modenese 
bookkeeper,  hatless,  exhausted,  with  a  countenance 
that  was  a  plainly  written  receipt  for  a  merciless 
thrashing.  A  concourse  of  grinning  faces  followed 
them.  The  accused  entered  the  commissary's  room  ; 
the  crowd  surged  outside  the  door. 

It  was  thus.  When  the  rain  squall  came  the 
bookkeeper  had  run  with  the  others  into  the  covered 
way  and  had  been  packed  in  there  by  the  crowd 
like  a  pilchard  in  a  cask.  It  was  his  hap,  good  and 
evil  at  once,  to  find  himself  close  behind  the  Genoese 
girl,  his  face  against  her  hair,  and  just  behind  him, 
alas,  unseen,  another,  the  father-in-law  of  his  dear- 


Beatb  on  JBoaro.  279 

est  dreams.  The  poor  young  fellow,  dead  in  love 
these  eighteen  days,  and  tempted  by  the  dark- 
ness, had  lost  the  guiding  lamp  of  reason,  and  had 
begun  to  imprint  kiss  after  kiss  upon  the  neck  and 
shoulders  of  his  idol,  with  such  vehemence,  such  a 
frenzy  of  passion,  that  he  did  not  even  feel  the  first 
paternal  man-handling  that  he  received.  At  the 
second  he  had  come  to  himself,  as  from  delirium,  and 
could  hardly  believe  his  head  was  on. 

The  trial  was  too  funny  for  human  endurance. 

The  father,  beside  himself  with  rage,  was  cursing 
and  abusing  him  :  "  Mascarson  !  Faccia  de  galea  ! 
Porco  d^uii  ase  I  Ti  veaggio  rompe  o  muro  I  Raga- 
muffin, jail-bird,  and  so  forth  !  I  '11  break  your  head 
against  the  wall ! "  And  out  went  the  threatening 
hand  again  to  seize  him  by  the  hair. 

The  other  was  pitiful  to  see.  He  denied  nothing ; 
said  he  had  lost  control  of  himself,  bested  for  for- 

i  OO 

giveness,  declared  he  was  honest,  tried  to  show  a 
letter  from  the  syndic  of  his  village  (Chiozzola,  I 
think)  and,  taking  his  head  in  his  hands,  wept  like 
a  beaver  (sic)  and  made  gestures  of  despair  like 
Massiuelli  in  the  holidays.  "  But  I  forgot  myself  I 
tell  you.  I  acted  like  a  brute.  I  give  you  my  hon- 
or. ...  I  did  not  mean.  .  .  .  Kill  me  if 
you  like."  And  under  all  his  grief  and  shame  shone 
out  the  not  ignoble  passion  which  had  driven  him 
to  such  extravagance  :  one  of  those  violent  enio- 

O  . 

tions  which  do  sometimes  blaze  up  in  such  poor 


2&>  <§m  Blue  Mater. 

little  creatures,  like  an  explosion  of  gas  in  a  lamp 
chimney. 

But  the  father  would  not  be  pacified.  He  was 
thoroughly  angry.  His  paternal  pride  was  offended 
at  such  an  audacious  act  having  been  committed  by 
so  wretched  a  creature,  by  a  poor  little  half-alive 
skeleton  (quel  tnezz1  iiomo  die  reggeva  T  anima  coi 
denti)  that  after  all  abased  itself  so  utterly.  He  kept 
on  yelling  and  screaming,  Bnittb  !  Strason  die  no  sei 
atro!  A  maefiggia!  E  gJie  veu>  da  faccia  ! — and 
tried  to  get  at  him  again,  whereon  the  other  stretched 
out  his  arms  disconsolate,  as  who  should  say,  "  Here 
I  am,  do  what  you  like  with  me."  And  then  he  de- 
clared once  more  that  he  was  an  honest  man  and 
again  presented  the  letter  of  his  syndic. 

The  commissary  was  greatly  puzzled  what  to 
do.  I  saw  in  his  eyes  a  smile  which  meant  that, 
struck  by  the  theatrical  notion  of  a  wedding  on  the 
spot,  he  was  half  inclined  to  propose  it.  But  the 
father  did  not  seem  a  man  to  be  trilled  with,  so  at 
last  he  got  out  of  it  by  giving  the  young  fellow  a 
long  lecture  upon  the  respect  due  to  women,  and 
ordering  him  not  to  be  seen  on  deck  for  a  while. 
Then  he  soothed  the  other,  saying  that  the  "  occur- 
rence" in  no  way  prejudiced  the  reputation  of  his 
daughter,  who  was  greatly  respected  by  everybody— 
and  so  on.  Then  he  put  them  both  out,  desiring 
the  father  to  go  forward  first.  He  did  so,  turning, 
however,  to  shake  his  fist  and  send  back  a  few  suit- 


IDeatb  on  iJBoarfc.  281 

able  Genoese  adjectives,  assorted.  The  young  fel- 
low, left  alone  with  the  commissary,  placed  a  hand 
on  his  bosom  and  said  in  a  dramatic  tone,  "  Believe 
me,  Signor  Commissary,  on  the  word  of  a  man  of 
honor,  it  was  my  misfortune — a  moment  of—  '  But 
here  his  heart  swelled,  his  voice  was  choked,  and, 
raising  his  eyes  to  heaven  with  an  expression  comi- 
cal, but  most  sincere,  which  told  the  whole  story  of 
his  sea-sorrow,  he  exclaimed,  "  If  you  but  knew  ! " 
He  could  say  no  more  ;  and  so  departed  with  his 
head  hanging  down  and  the  arrow  in  his  side. 

The  figure  of  that  poor  lovesick  young  fellow  as 
he  passed  through  the  covered  way  is  connected  in 
my  memory  with  the  heavens  in  their  new  aspect 
after  the  clearing  shower.  Huge  rifts  of  bluest  sky 
fresh  washed,  swept  over  by  flying  clouds.  The 
sea  great  tracts  of  green  with  long  streaks  of  purest 
azure,  looking  like  a  mighty  meadow  with  endless 
intersecting  canals  full  of  water  to  the  brim.  We 
seemed  to  have  reached  a  region,  half  land  half  water, 
abandoned  by  its  inhabitants  by  reason  of  an  inun- 
dation ;  and  the  eye  sought  on  the  far  horizon  towers 
and  steeples  as  on  the  great  plains  of  Holland ;  and 
when  the  waters  were  a  little  ruffled,  giving  the 
green  expanse  a  look  as  of  larger  vegetation,  the 
illusion  changed  and  I  thought  of  that  vast  ocean 

O  O 

tract  covered  with  a  carpet  of  seaweed  which  for 
twenty  days  entangled  the  ships  and  frightened  the 
sailors  of  Columbus.  Some  white  birds  swept  across 


282  ©n  JBlue  Mater, 

the  distant  sky,  the  sun  seemed  reflected  here  and 
there  from  islands  of  sparkling  emeralds,  and  in  the 
air  was  balmy  spring,  the  fragrance  of  the  shore, 
speaking  to  the  soul  like  an  echo  of  far-off  voices 
wafted  to  us  upon  the  breeze  of  the  pampas. 

But  the  emerald  sea  and  the  little  episode  of  the 
unhappy  lover  lightened  for  a  few  moments  only  the 
gloom  of  that  day  on  board  the  Galileo.  The  blonde 
lady  alone  carolled  for  joy  as  she  paced  the  deck  on 
her  husband's  arm,  caressing  him  with  voice  and  eye 
and  face,  like  a  seven-days  bride,  perhaps  to  make 
up  for  some  grievous  treachery  she  had  in  store  for 
him,  and  of  which  there  was  a  premonitory  twinkle 
in  the  blue  pupils  of  her  childlike  eyes ;  while  he, 
as  usual,  drooped  his  shoulders,  made  with  the 
tongue's  tip  and  half-shut  eyes  the  light  smile  that 
seemed  to  mock  himself,  and  her,  and  the  rest  of  us, 
and  all  the  universe, — a  sneer  symbolic  of  his  cool 
philosophy.  On  all  the  rest,  the  idea  of  the  dead 
body  we  had  on  board  and  which  was  to  be  cast  into 
the  sea  that  night  threw  a  shade  of  sadness;  and 
eyes  glanced  forward  from  time  to  time  as  if  in  fear 
that  the  man  would  rise  up  and  come  out  again  to 
curse  his  hideous  burial-place.  The  talk  was  all  of 
him.  It  grew  gloomier  and  gloomier,  as  if  with 
coming  darkness  that  body  would  grow  longer,  and 
at  dead  of  ni<Hit  reach  aft  and  rattle  with  its  feet  at 

O 

the  stateroom  doors.     The  dinner  was  dull  enough. 

O 

There  was  some  grim  discussion  between  the  old 


2)eatb  on  ifBoarfc.  283 

Chilian  and  the  captain  as  to  whether  a  body  cast 
overboard  with  weight  fastened  to  its  heels  would 
reach  the  bottom  whole,  or  whether  the  tissues 
would  be  torn  and  stripped  off  by  the  tremendous 
pressure  and  only  the  skeleton  get  so  far.  The 
captain  favored  the  latter  idea.  The  Chilian,  on 
the  contrary,  maintained  that  the  pressure  of  the 
water  from  without  was  neutralized  by  that  from 
within  and  was  the  same  in  every  direction,  so  that 
the  body  would  sink  unharmed.  And  then,  agreeing 
about  the  initial  velocity  of  the  descent,  its  regular 
acceleration  and  the  extreme  depth  of  the  Atlantic, 
they  settled  it  that  the  body  would  occupy  about 
one  hour  in  its  vertical  descent.  "  Wait  a  moment," 
said  the  Chilian,  "  the  body  might  come  across  cur- 
rents which  would  send  it  up  again." 

At  this  notion  of  the  body  coming  once  more  to 
the  surface  I  saw  my  neighbor,  the  advocate,  shud- 
der ;  yet  he  stood  his  ground  like  a  man.  But  the 
Genoese  was  ill-advised  enough  to  speak  of  a  de- 
scription he  had  read  in  a  New  York  newspaper  of  a 
diver  who  went  down  into  the  hull  of  a  wrecked 
steamer  and  found  the  drowned  corpses  hideously 
swollen,  upright  in  the  water,  their  eyes  out  of  their 
sockets  and  their  lips  hanging  down ;  so  horrible  to 
see  by  the  light  of  his  lamp  that  his  blood  froze  in 
his  veins  and  he  fled  like  a  madman.  The  advocate 
could  bear  it  no  longer ;  he  sprang  up,  dashed  his 
fork  into  his  plate  and  crying  out,  "  Gentlemen,  be- 


284  <§m  iJBlue  Mater. 

think  yourselves  ! "  made  for  the  door.  The  captain, 
annoyed  by  this  scene,  spoke  no  more;  and  the  din- 
ner came  to  an  end  in  silence.  As  we  rose  from  the 
table  the  Genoese  came  with  joyous  visage  and 
whispered  in  my  ear,  "  At  midnight !  " 

The  burial  had  indeed  been  secretly  fixed  for 
midnight  in  order  to  prevent  a  throng  of  steerage 
passengers;  and  the  commissary,  morever,  had  put 
it  about  among  them  that  the  ceremony  would  take 
place  at  four  in  the  morning. 

At  midnight  it  was  overcast  again  and  there  was 
a  lono;  narrow  streak  on  the  western  horizon  as  if  the 

O 

huge  dark  cowl  of  the  sky  had  not  yet  fully  settled 
down  upon  the  earth  to  make  black  night.  The  sea 
was  of  an  inky  hue,  the  air  lifeless.  But  for  a  lantern 
or  two  on  deck  w7e  should  have  had  to  grope  our 
way  as  if  we  had  been  in  the  hold. 

Moving  towards  the  forward  part  of  the  ship,  I 
heard  in  the  darkness  the  voice  of  the  Marsio;liese 

O 

holding  forth  in  eager  accents  upon  the  poetry  of 
being  buried  in  the  ocean  and  of  being  laid  to  sleep  in 
that  enormous  solitude  : — iPaimera/is  qa,  moi  !  said 
he.  Some  passengers  came  out  of  the  third  class,  all 
silent  and  glancing  about  them.  In  the  covered  way, 
I  overtook  the  Neapolitan  priest  in  cope  and  stole, 
walking  with  long,  slow  steps,  and  preceded  by  a 
sailor  who  bore  the  holy  water  in  a  dish. 

When  I  reached  the  bow,  I  found  a  group  assem- 
bled near  the  women's  cabin.  A  lantern  held  by 


2>eatb  on  3Boarfc. 


285 


the  humpbacked  sailor  lightened  them  from  below. 
There  was  the  captain  and  the  commissary  and 
several  first-class  pass- 
engers ;  farther  on 
some  sailors  ;  a  dozen 
or  twenty  emigrants 
were  crouched  down 
alonor  the  canteen,  and 

O  ' 

one  or  two  figures 
were  dimly  seen  upon 
the  forecastle.  When 
the  priest  arrived,  all 
moved  so  as  to  stand 
in  semicircle,  and  on 
one  side  appeared  the 
waxen  face  of  the  friar. 
At  the  same  moment 
I  heard  a  rustle  near 
me  and  saw  the  young 
lady  from  Mestre  with 
her  aunt  in  the  half- 
light  under  the  bridge. 
Supposing  that 
they  would,  as  usual, 
launch  the  body  from 

.       „  IT 

the  forecastle  1  was  at 
a  loss  to  imagine  why  they  all  stopped  there  ;  but 
at  a  sign  from  the  captain,  two  sailors  opened  the 
entering  port  in  the  bulwark,  and  I  understood. 


one 

face  of  tbe  fdav.» 


286  ©n  Blue  Mater, 

Meanwhile  it  seemed  that  the  ship  was  moving 
more  slowly,  and  in  a  few  moments,  to  my  surprise, 
she  stopped  altogether.  I  was  not  aware  that  the 
ship  must  not  be  in  motion  when  the  body  is  thrown 
over,  lest  it  should  be  sucked  under  the  screw. 

Then  all  were  silent,  and  I  marked  the  red,  sleepy 
face  of  the  captain,  somewhat  annoyed,  it  seemed,  at 
having  to  get  up  and  take  part  in  this  ceremony. 
He  kept  his  eyes  fixed  upon  a  long  plank  at  his  feet 
right  in  front  of  the  entering  port. 

A  voice  was  heard.  All  turned  and  saw  three 
sailors  come  out  of  the  steerage  carrying  a  shapeless 
mass  like  a  heap  of  bedclothes. 

All  made  way,  and  they  came  forward  as  if  to 
place  their  burden  crosswise  upon  the  plank. 

The  captain  said  in  undertone,  Per  drito!  bruttoi, 
"  Longwise,  you  lubbers  ! " 

They  made  the  change,  and  softly  arranged  the 
body  with  the  feet  towards  the  sea.  The  huge  bolts 
of  iron,  fastened  to  the  heels,  made  a  stern  jar  upon 
the  deck. 

The  body  was  wrapped  in  a  white  sheet  sewed 
like  a  sack  and  covering  the  head,  then  laid  upon  the 
mattress,  which  was  doubled  round  it  and  bound 
about  with  a  cord.  The  iron  bolts  protruded  from 
the  wrapping.  The  whole  had  the  piteous  look  of 
a  bundle  of  stuff  tied  together  anyhow  for  a  hasty 
move.  The  body  seemed  so  shrunken  and  shortened 
that  I  could  have  believed  it  a  boy.  From  a  rent 


Beatb  on  Boaro,  287 

in  the  sheet,  at  one  end,  stuck  out  a  naked  toe.  The 
hooked  nose  and  the  chin  seen  under  the  winding 
sheet  recalled  the  eager  expression  the  poor  man  had 
worn  on  my  first  visit  to  him  in  his  berth  when  he 
was  fumbling  for  that  address  of  his  son.  Perhaps 
that  son  was  at  the  moment  asleep  in  some  shanty 
of  his  railroad  and  dreaming  that  he  was  soon  to  see 
his  poor  old  father.  All  kept  their  eyes  upon  that 
face  as  if  they  expected  to  see  it  move.  The  silence 
and  quiet  of  all  around  was  so  profound  that  we 
seemed  the  only  living  beings  in  the  world. 

"  Now,  your  reverence,"  said  the  captain. 

The  priest,  dipping  his  hand  in  the  dish  the  sailor 
was  holding,  sprinkled  the  body,  and  said  the  bene- 
diction. 

All  uncovered ;  some  of  the  third-class  people 
kneeled  down.  I  looked  round  and  saw  the  young 
lady  on  her  knees  in  the  darkness,  her  hands  over 
her  face. 

The  priest  began  to  recite  in  a  hurried  manner :  De 
pj'ofundis  clamavi  ad  te,  Domine;  exaudi  vocern  meam. 

Many  responded,  "Amen." 

The  two  lanterns  held  by  the  sailors  cast  a  reddish 
light  upon  still,  sad  faces,  with  infinite  darkness  for 
a  background.  Amongst  others  I  saw  the  Graribal- 
diau,  and  I  was  pained  to  see  his  face  as  hard  and 
stern  as  ever ;  not  the  faintest  ray  of  pity, — no  more 
than  if  a  sack  of  ballast  were  beins  thrown  over- 

O 

board.     Could  it  be  possible,  I  thought,  that  that 


288  ©n  JStue  Mater. 

saintly  creature  yonder  had  made  no  impression 
whatever  upon  him,  and  was  I  once  more  shamefully 
deceived  in  supposing  there  was  a  great  soul  in  that 
man, — but  not  a  heart ! 

The  priest  mumbled  still  more  rapidly  the  remain- 
ing verses  of  the  De  profundis,  and  the  Oremus — 
Absolve.  Then  he  sprinkled  the  body  once  more 
with  holy  water.  At  the  Requiem  ceternam  all  arose. 

"  Over,"  said  the  captain. 

Two  sailors  took  the  plank  by  the  ends,  and  softly 
raising  it  placed  it  on  the  sill  of  the  entering  port,  so 
that  about  a  quarter  of  the  length  projected  over  the 
water.  As  they  raised  it,  I  saw  something  move  on 
the  bosom  of  the  corpse.  It  was  the  black  cross 
which  the  young  lady  had  been  wearing. 

The  lanterns  were  held  up. 

The  two  sailors  slowly  raised  the  plank  at  the 
head,  until  the  body  began  to  slip  downwards. 

Then  I  heard  within  me  those  despairing  words  of 
the  poor  dying  wretch,  as  if  someone  had  cried  out 
with  an  exceeding  great  cry  that  reached  the  shores 
of  ocean  :  Ohmefieul!  OJi  me  pover  Jleid  ! 

The  body  slid  off  the  plank  and  disappeared  in 
the  darkness  with  a  hollow  plunge.  The  sailors 
closed  the  port  and  dispersed  like  shadows.  Before 
we  reached  the  quarter-deck  the  ship  was  once  more 
in  motion,  and  we  were  already  far  away  from  the 
poor  old  man,  as  he  pursued  his  solitary  journey 
down  through  the  gulfs  of  night. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


DEVIL    DAY. 

F  it  be  true  that  in  the  course  of 
every  long  voyage  there  is  a  so- 
called  "  Devil  Day,'1  in  which 
everything  goes  wrong  and  "  the 
ship  is  made  a  hell  of,"  I  think 
the  Galileo  had  her  Devil  Day 
on  the  morrow  after  the  burial ;  at  all  events,  three- 
quarters  of  it,  for,  by  the  blessing  of  Providence,  it 
did  not  end  as  it  began.  There  were  reasons  for 
trouble  in  the  death  which  had  taken  place  on  board, 
the  knowledge  that  for  two  days  we  had  not  been 
making  good  time,  and  the  constant  sight  of  a  sea, 
ugly  and  vast,  like  a  huge  sheet  of  platinum,  which 
reflected  a  vault  of  colored  clouds  and  on  which 
sheets  of  fire  seemed  to  rain  down,  as  on  the  blas- 
phemers in  Dante's  Inferno.  But  even  this  was 
hardly  enough  to  account  for  such  a  day  as  ours 
was  ;  and  I  fear  I  must  adn*it  some  kind  of  mysteri- 
19  289 


2 9o  ©n  Blue  Mater. 

ous  influence  exerted  by  the  Tropic  of  Capricorn, 
which  we  were  to  pass  within  twenty-four  hours. 

No  sooner  was  I  awake  than  I  became  aware  that 
the  moral  atmosphere  was  charged  with  electricity. 
The  Genoese  stewardess  had  broken  out  in  such  a 
passion  of  jealous  fury  that  she  screamed  and  railed 
upon  the  false  Ruy  Bias  in  the  open  corridor,  calling 
him  a  hundred  times  by  a  name  that  was  not  nice  at 
all,  with  no  more  consideration  than  if  she  had  been 
in  a  back  slum  of  Turin.  The  agent  threatened  to 
send  for  the  captain  on  the  spot ;  and  so  succeeded, 
with  some  trouble,  in  stopping  the  flow  of  her  abuse. 
I  went  out  and  found  the  captain  himself  given  over 
to  the  furies  ;  brandishing  a  document,  questioning 
the  commissary,  and  threatening  to  go  in  person  a 
piggiali  ape  in  to  cu  the  whole  forty-seven  of  them. 
A  letter,  it  seems,  had  been  handed  him  a  short  time 
before,  signed,  after  a  fashion,  by  forty-seven  steerage 
passengers,  complaining  of  the  food  and  demanding 
very  particularly  a  "greater  variety  in  the  dressing 
of  the  meat-dishes,"  which  was  always  the  same, 
"  and  which,"  the  paper  writing  went  on  to  set  forth, 
"should  be  discontinued  "  (sic).  The  protest  was  got 
up  by  that  old  Tuscan  in  the  green  jacket,  and  writ- 
ten out  on  a  sheet  of  paper  which  betrayed  an  in- 
stinctive horror  of  the  wash-hand  basin  on  the  part 
of  all  the  signers.  The  captain  was  inconceivably 
exasperated  by  this  nastiness ;  and,  suspecting  it  to 
have  been  done  on  purpose,  declared  he  would  give 


2>e\>il  S>a£.  291 

them  a  lesson  they  would  remember.  Meanwhile 
he  ordered  an  inquiry.  The  commissary  reported, 
moreover,  that  during  the  night  some  passenger 
had,  out  of  pure  spite,  snipped  with  scissors  the 
black  silk  dress  of  that  poor  lady  already  spoken 
of;  and  that  this  time  the  unhappy  creature  could 
bear  it  no  longer,  but  had  run  to  demand  justice, 
sobbing,  choked  with  grief  and  rage.  How  to  find 
out  the  guilty  party  was  the  problem.  Nor  was 
this  all.  Some  persons,  not  choosing  to  put  their 
mouths  to  the  fresh-water  spigot,  as  the  custom  was, 
had  smashed  all  the  spigots  of  the  tanks  so  as  to 
force  the  men  to  give  them  their  drink  in  cans. 
But  the  culprits  were  in  a  fair  way  of  being  dis- 
covered ;  and  the  question  was  how  to  punish  them. 
A  bad  beginning. 

I  went  on  deck,  and  found  there  almost  all  the 
passengers  looking  like  people  who  had  passed  a 
night  of  utter  misery  (sui pettini  di  tino),1  and  it  was 
easy  to  see  that  reciprocal  aversion  had  risen  to  a 
point  where  it  was  ready  to  pass  the  line  which 
separates  contemptuous  silence  from  open  abuse. 
They  did  not  say  "  Good-morning,"  and  they 
brushed  against  one  another  without  any  apology. 
The  beast-tamer  herself,  she  who  had  lived  so  many 
days  in  a  kind  of  effervescence  of  maternal  love  for 
everybody,  kept  aloof  as  if  all  the  Chartreuse  of  her 
secret  repository  were  dead  within  her.  The  Genoese 

1  "  On  tenter-hooks"  is  the  parallel  expression. 


292  <S>n  Blue  Mater, 

met  me  with  a  sour  visage,  and,  fastening  his  single 
eye  upon  me,  said  :  "  Sir,  do  you  know  what  the 
news  is  this  morning?  No  ice !  The  machine  has 

O 

broken  down,  and  the  man  in  charge  has  smashed 
his  hand.  This  is  the  second  time  !  It  is  outrage- 

O 

ous  !"  He  was  dreadfully  put  out,  that  is  the  fact. 
He  was  moving  off,  but  turned  round  and,  eyin^ 

o  »/        o 

me  askance,  said  with  a  sneer,  "  What  do  you  think 
of  that  fry  they  put  upon  the  table  last  evening?" 
and  so  departed.  My  friend  of  the  next  stateroom, 
too,  was  leaning  against  the  mizzen  mast,  more  woe- 

'  O  ~ 

begone  than  usual,  and  with  all  the  simis  about  him 

O  ™ 

of  having  passed  the  night  on  deck  so  as  to  get  rid 
of  his  tormentor  below.  Even  the  bride  and  groom, 
sitting  side  by  side  on  an  iron  bench,  had  a  stolid 
look,  as  if,  for  the  first  time,  that  Procrustean  bed 
on  which  they  had  been  learning  Spanish  for  a  fort- 
night had  been  too  much  for  them.  The  only  ones 

O  »/ 

who  smiled  were  the  Argentine  lady,  in  a  charming 
dark  green  dress,  whose  color  was  reflected,  as  by  a 
mirror,  in  the  face  of  the  piano  players  mother;  and 
the  young  lady  from  Mestre,  who  went  round  with 
a  sweet,  melancholy  face  and  a  paper  in  her  hand  to 
collect  some  money  for  the  poor  fever-stricken  peas- 
ant and  his  wife,  so  that  they  should  not  reach 
America  without  clothes  and  shoes.  And  it  was  a 
pity  and  a  shame  to  see  what  scowling  faces  were 
turned  upon  her,  and  with  what  scant  courtesy  the 
greater  part  of  them  at  last  wrote  down  their  names. 


2>evnl  Bag.  293 

But  few  spoke,  and  those  who  did  so  made  it  plain 
by  their  venomous  glances  that  they  were  speaking 
ill  of  somebody  or  something,  as  we  are  all  apt  to  do 
when  our  nerves  are  upset.  Amongst  others,  I  heard 
the  mill-owner,  who  audibly  thought  it  was  "  rather 
strange  that  in  a  steamer  like  ours  a  man  was  per- 
mitted to  come  up  on  deck  in  slippers "  ;  and  he 
glanced  at  the  Neapolitan  priest,  who  certainly  was 
shuffling  about  in  a  regular  pair  of  barges,  and  so 
could  come  up  close  behind  one  unperceived — a 
thing  which  not  everybody  was  disposed  to  take  al- 
together kindly.  The  impudence  of  this  renegade 
grinder  of  corn  disgusted  me;  I  turned  my  back  on 
the  whole  tedious  set  of  them,  and  went  forward  for 
a  while. 

But  here  it  was  worse  still.  The  closeness  and 
the  foul  air  had  driven  everybody  on  deck,  and  I 
never  had  seen  so  many  people  there.  It  was  one 
dense  crowd  from  the  kitchen  1'i^ht  forward, — all 

o  * 

uneasy,  as  if  expecting  something,  all  tousled 
and  frowsy,  as  if  they  had  not  been  to  bed  for 
several  nights.  It  was  easy  to  perceive  that  they 
had  had  more  than  enough  of  the  sea,  the  kitchen, 

O  / 

and  the  ship  rules,  and  were  ready  to  break  out  at 
the  merest  nothing.  Nobody  played  cards ;  no  one 
sang.  Even  the  light-hearted  group  of  the  midship- 
deck  was  mute  ;  the  noseless  peasant  was  asleep ;  the 
encyclopaedic  cook  paced  up  and  down  alone ;  the 
album,  of  the  ex-porter  was  unread;  the  Venetian 


294  ©n  Blue  Mater. 

barber  only  raised  from  time  to  time  his  moon-baying 
howl,  as  if  to  express  in  those  doleful  strains  the 
general  sentiment  of  the  company.  And  the  emi- 
grants crowding  toward  the  stern  looked  at  the 
doors  of  the  saloon  and  at  the  first-class  passengers 
with  a  fiercer  eye  than  usual,  as  if  they  would  have 
liked  to  offer  something  more  than  insolence ; — for 
why  did  we  take  up  so  much  of  the  ship, — why 
should  we,  a  hundred  or  so,  occupy  nearly  as  much 
room  as  they,  a  people?  Didn't  we  eat  up  all 
those  nice  dishes  that  they  saw  carried  across  the 
piazzetta  twice  a  day,  and  of  which  they  got  nothing 
but  the  smell.  Did  n't  we  have  servants  in  black  to 
do  all  this  running  about  for  us,  while  they  had  to 
rinse  their  pots  and  pans  at  the  deck  trough,  and 
wait  for  their  food  at  the  kitchen  door  like  beggars. 
Why  should  this  be  ? 

And  they  were  not  so  much  to  blame,  after  all. 
We  should  have  looked  with  equal — perhaps  with 
greater — jealousy  upon  a  superior  first  class  of  mil- 
lionaires, gorged  with  quail  on  toast,  and  tipsy  with 
Johaunisberger.  They  were  tired  to  death  of  this 
long-enforced  contact  with  careless  ease ;  of  feeling 
themselves  crammed  up  with  their  own  wretched- 
ness in  that  huge  pen  full  of  rags  and  evil  smells. 
And  as  they  could  not  fall  foul  of  us  they  fell  foul 
of  each  other.  As  early  as  eight  o'clock  the  two 
peasants  who  were  jealous  about  the  negress  had 
come  to  blows ;  and  the  captain  had  sent  them  both 


2>ev>il  Dag.  295 

to  the  lock-up  under  the  bridge,  forcing  them  to 
stand  up  face  to  face  with  their  noses  touching ;  but  as 
they  could  not  keep  their  hands  off  one  another  so,  they 
were  confined  separately.  And  then  the  Bolognese, 
offended  at  a  rude  remark  on  the  part  of  the  ship's 
baker,  had  given  him  a  slap,  one  of  those  with  a  capi- 
tal S — and  was  duly  had  up  by  the  commissary. 
As  always  happens,  moreover,  example  being  conta- 
gious, there  had  been  other  difficulties  and  several 
women  had  scratched  faces  and  torn  hair.  Then  the 
boys  began, — fighting  and  tumbling  about  the  deck 
eight  or  ten  in  a  pile,  while  the  parents  ran  to  sepa- 
rate them,  showered  down  blows  and  kicks  unheeding 
where  they  fell,  and  heaped  abuse  on  one  another. 
The  general  irritation  had  penetrated  the  kitchen, 
where,  owing  to  competition  in  contraband  traffic,  a 
fiery  interchange  of  choice  expressions  was  going  on 
between  the  cook  and  his  assistants,  accompanied 
with  a  terrific  clatter  of  saucepans. 

For  us  in  the  after-cabin  things  went  wrong  from 
the  first.  The  breakfast  was  bad,  and  it  was  not  im- 
proved by  our  silence,  or  by  the  truly  tragical  frown 
of  the  captain,  who  had  on  his  mind  an  affair — not 
the  one  of  the  forty-seven,  but  a  really  serious  mat- 
ter. An  hour  before,  the  mother  of  the  piano  player 
had  accosted  him  with  much  dignity,  brandishing  a 

O  «/  7  O 

protest  in  due  form  against  the  nocturnal  meander- 
ings  of  the  Swiss  lady,  who,  at  all  sorts  of  impossible 
hours,  passed  her  stateroom  in  the  lightest  possible 


296  ©n  Blue  Mater. 

costume,  to  the  great  scandal  of  her  daughter ;  but 
this  was  better  than  many  other  things  that  she  did. 
The  whole  poop-deck  was  talking  about  it,  it  could 
not  go  on,  something  must  be  done.  The  captain, 
touched  on  his  weak  point,  had  breathed  out  flame 
and  fury,  had  promised,  on  his  oath  (in  sozuamento), 
to  say  a  soft  word  in  the  ear  of  that  old  horned-owl 
of  a  professor ;  and  even  to  the  lady,  if  need  were, 
and  to  some  others  too; — and  what  did  they  take 
his  ship  for, — and  people  must  behave  themselves, 
perdy,  if  he  had  to  put  sentries  in  the  corridors; 
and  he  ended  solemnly  with  his  never-failing  speech, 
Porcaie  a  bordo  no  ne  vewjgio.  There  was  to  be  a 
scene,  evidently.  All  through  the  breakfast  he 
darted  Torquemada  glances  at  the  blonde  lady, 
while  others  also  looked  and  whispered ; — but  she 
was  unconscious, — wholly.  Squeezed  into  a  dove- 
colored  dress,  fresher  and  more  sprightly  than  ever, 
she  chirped  and  warbled  in  her  husband's  ear,  smil- 
ing on  all  her  friends  with  those  sweet,  thoughtless 

O  O 

eyes, — just  like  the  windows  of  an  empty  room,— 
and  showing  off  in  a  hundred  ways  her  white  teeth, 
her  little  hands,  her  rounded  arms,  her  amiable  soul. 
After  the  meal,  she  be^an  walking  the  deck  once 

O  O 

more,  every  now  and  then  disappearing  suddenly 
and  reappearing  unexpectedly,  unconscious — poor 
creature — of  the  sword  of  Damocles  that  was  hansr- 

o 

ing  over  her  blonde  tresses;  in  fact  all  the  more  gay 
and  lively  as  the  weariness  around  her  grew  greater, 


S)ev>il  H)a£.  297 

and,  like  an  ardent  heroine  who  cheered  the  belea- 
guered defenders  as  they  fainted  at  their  task,  seemed 
with  her  eyes  to  say  that  she  did  all  she  could  for 
suffering  humanity,  and  it  was  not  her  fault  that  she 
could  do  no  more. 

But  about  three  o'clock  she  went  below  and  was 
seen  no  more ;  and  when  this  one  joyous  face  was 
gone,  gloom  settled  down  upon  the  deck  more  blight- 
ingly  than  ever. 

The  advocate  helped  us  along  a  little  by  a  comical 
adventure  that  befell  him.  Overcoming  his  instinc- 
tive repugnance  to  salt  water,  he  had  gone  to  have 
a  bath ;  and,  stepping  into  the  tub,  had  let  it  run 
full  of  water  up  to  his  breast ;  but  putting  out 
his  hand  to  turn  the  spigot,  it  did  not  work,  or 
he  turned  it  the  wrong  way,  or  broke  it,  or  some- 
thing ;  at  all  events  he  let  on  the  stream  harder 
than  ever, — a  perfect  spout  of  water  that  flooded 
him  in  a  moment,  soaked  all  his  clothes,  and  inun- 
dated the  room.  We  saw  him  fly  across  the  piaz- 
zetta,  shouting  to  the  stewards  to  go  and  shut  the 
deluge  off  before  the  ship  filled  and  went  down.  But 
only  five  or  six  passengers  had  strength  enough  left 
to  smile  at  this  gleam  of  fun.  The  heat  grew  greater, 
the  foul  smells  from  the  steerage  waxed  pestiferous, 
and  the  greater  part  of  us  dragged  our  worn-out 
bodies  from  the  deck  to  the  saloon,  wThere  we  sank 
down  at  the  tables,  or  round  about  on  the  sofas. 
Oh,  what  a  tiresome  set !  I  knew  every  movement 


298  ©n  Blue  Mater, 

of  theirs,  every  gesture  they  would  make,  the  tone  of 
every  yawn,  the  books  which  they  had  for  a  fort- 
night been  pretending  to  read.  It  was  like  the 
hundredth  time  at  a  puppet  show.  It  was  not  weari- 
ness, it  was  utter  prostration  of  soul.  Nothing  to 
be  seen  but  long  faces,  heads  leaned  upon  hands, 
eyes  filmy  and  motionless.  The  pianist  played  some 
funeral  march  or  other.  The  Brazilian  respectfully 
becked  her  to  desist,  as  his  wife  was  in  her  berth 

OO 

suffering  horribly  with  nerves.  The  girl  closed  the 
piano  with  a  bang,  and  went  away.  The  agent  said 
the  plump  lady  was  sobbing  in  her  berth ;  why,  he 
did  not  know.  The  Tropic  of  Capricorn,  he  sup- 
posed. One  young  lady  of  the  family  in  mourning 
was  weeping.  A  sharp  discussion  arose  between 
the  Marsiidiese  and  one  of  the  Argentines,  the  latter 

O  O  / 

observing,  and  correctly,  that  from  the  Observatory 
of  Marseilles  only  two  of  the  stars  of  the  Centaur 
could  be  seen,  the  head  and  the  shoulders ;  while  the 
other  maintained  that  they  were  all  visible.  Tbutes 
les  sept,  Monsieur,  touted  les  sept! — "But  that  is 
absurd  ! "  Mais,  Monsieur,  vous  avez  -une  fagon.  .  .  . 
The  captain,  coming  in  and  looking  around  with  a 

ferocious   glance  for  some  one,  cut  this  contention 

~ 

short,  and  the  silence  of  the  tomb  settled  down  upon 
the  cabin. 

I  could  bear  it  no  longer  and  went  out  to  go  up 
on  the  bridge.  But  I  had  not  yet  reached  the  end 
of  the  covered  way  when  I  heard  a  cry  of  terror  and 


Devil  5>a£.  299 


saw  a  crowd  of  people  rush  to  the  foot  of  one  of  the 
deck-ladders.  A  child  that  had  clambered  to  the 
topmost  step  had  rolled  down,  striking  its  head  on 
the  deck.  The  mother,  supposing  it  dead,  had  seized 
it  in  a  frenzy,  and,  clasping  it  in  her  arms,  began  to 
cry  out  like  a  madwoman,  Me  lo  jettano  ammare! 
U  peccirillo  mio  !  A  criatura  inia!  "  Ah  !  my  poor 
little  darling,  they  '11  throw  it  into  the  sea  !  "  and 
with  frantic  gesture  gnashed  her  teeth,  drove  back 
the  throng,  and  defended,  as  it  wrere,  the  little  body. 
The  doctor  came  and  took  both  mother  and  infant 
to  the  sick  bay.  This  accident  raised  a  great  cry 
against  the  ship,  which  "  was  full  of  danger  every- 
where," and  against  the  captain  for  not  posting 
guards  at  the  ladders.  The  old  fellow  in  the  green 
jacket  began  to  declaim  most  furiously,  his  forefinger 
up  and  his  gray  locks  bare.  But  there  had  been 
trouble  just  before  this.  The  poor  little  bookkeeper, 
whose  credit  was  raised  among  those  forward  by  his 
kissing  escapade,  which  was  looked  upon  by  them 
with  complacency  as  "  a  flout  for  the  princess,"  had 
been  besieged  for  a  couple  of  days  with  mocking 
congratulations,  as  if  the  thing  had  really  gone  much 
farther.  He  took  it  seriously,  denying  everything 
with  fury.  At  last,  however,  on  receiving  a  congra- 
tulation more  brutal  than  the  rest,  his  blood  boiled 
and  he  began  to  strike  and  kick,  right  and  left, 
like  a  maniac  ;  but  to  no  purpose,  poor  creature,  for 
four  or  five  got  round  him  and  held  him  while  others 


300  <§m  Blue  Mater, 

drove  his  hat  down  over  his  eyes,  and  the  best  he 
could  do  was  to  escape  with  a  scratched  countenance 
into  the  cabin. 

I  looked  for  the  Genoese  girl.  She  was  in  her 
usual  place,  at  work,  as  calm  and  fair  as  ever,  but 
with  a  sparkle  of  anger  in  her  eye,  for  she  divined 
the  foul  insolence  of  the  talk  around  her,  and  under- 
stood what  hatred  there  was  in  the  looks  she  saw. 
Her  father  had  been  keeping  guard  over  her  for  two 
days,  ready  and  anxious  to  break  someone's  head. 
But  everyone's  fingers  were  itching,  for  that  matter. 
Every  half-hour  there  was  a  crowd  around  a  couple 
of  quarrelling  passengers.  If  an  officer  were  by  to 
prevent  their  coining  to  blows,  they  defied  one 
another  in  due  form.  "  On  the  forecastle  ? "-— "  Yes, 
on  the  forecastle  !"•—"  After  dark  this  evening?"- 
"  Yes,  after  dark  this  evening  !  "  The  forecastle  was 
the  fenced  field  always  chosen  by  these  doughty 
champions.  Three  or  four  times,  moreover,  for  no 
conceivable  reason,  first  two,  then  three,  then  half  a 
dozen  had  fallen  by  the  ears,  causing  a  surge  and  a 
rush  in  the  whole  crowd  ;  while  men  and  officers  ran 
up  to  quell  the  tumult.  Two  drunken  fellows,  quar- 
relsome in  their  cups,  had  flown  at  one  another's 
throats  like  wild  beasts,  and,  falling  over  the  cogs 
of  the  donkey  engine,  had  got  damaged  ribs,  both  of 
them.  This  time  the  captain  came  up,  raging,  with 
the  evident  intention  of  keeping  his  hand  in  by  giv- 
ing both  some  mciscd  that  they  should  remember  the 


JDexnl  2>a£.  301 

longest  day  they  had  to  live.  But  he  was  too  late. 
Things  had  got  to  such  a  pass  that  I  half  expected 
to  see,  before  evening,  all  that  crowd  grapple  with 
and  get  piled  on  top  of  one  another  in  a  formless 
heap  of  heads  and  limbs,  like  one  of  Dore's  battles, 
and  then  topple  over  the  bulwarks  into  the  sea. 
But  instead  of  aversion  I  felt  nothing  but  compas- 
sion for  these  poor  people  and  their  trouble, — a  kind 
of  sad  vearuino;  over  them  ;  for  beneath  the  truculent 

•/  o 

looks  of  all  these  faces  I  seemed  to  perceive  an 
abandonment,  for  some  dreadful  hours,  of  all  hope, 
an  utter  weariness  of  life,  a  secret  grief  that  broke 
out  in  anger.  It  was  clear  that  they  were  suffering, 
and  that  they  had  an  infinite  pity,  each  for  the  other, 
and  for  himself.  Those  poor  old  peasants  on  the 
forecastle,  man  and  wife,  were  the  livino-  imasje  of 

/  '  O  O 

this  state  of  mind,  for  even  then  they  were  sitting 
there,  as  usual,  on  the  bitts,  their  arms  upon  their 
knees,  and  their  heads  upon  their  arms,  in  utter 
abandonment ;  while  their  poor  bare,  wrinkled  necks 
told  of  fifty  years  of  unrequited  toil.  As  I  looked 
at  them,  a  pregnant  woman  fainted  upon  the  glazed 
and  grated  cover  of  the  companion-way,  her  white 
face  falling  amidst  the  outstretched  arms  of  the 
women  near  her.  There  was  a  cry  from  a  hundred 
voices,  "She  is  dead,  she  is  dead!" — and  I  came 
away. 

Where  should  I  go  !     It  would  not  be  night  for  six 
endless  hours.     I  went  back  to  the  saloon  and  be^an 

o 


302  <S>n  Blue  Mater. 

turniug  over  the  ship's  album.  But  it  was  full  of 
commonplaces,  of  nonsense,  and  of  lies.  As  a  last 
resource  I  went  to  my  stateroom  and  tried  to  sleep. 
But  the  room  was  smaller,  more  confined,  more  chok- 
ing, more  detestable  than  ever  I  had  known  it.  The 
passengers  seemed  all  to  have  retired  like  myself, 
but  not  a  sound  was  heard,  as  if  those  hundred 
rooms  contained  nothing  but  corpses.  Not  a  sound 
save  the  doleful  ditty  of  the  negress,  like  a  solitary 
chant  in  a  street  of  the  city  of  the  dead.  And  I 
seemed  weighed  down,  not  by  my  own  weariness 
only,  but  by  all  the  tormenting  dulness,  the  bitter 
memories,  the  bruised  affections,  and  the  sad  fore- 
bodings crowded  together  above  there  on  deck, 

o  O 

among  those  sixteen  hundred  children  of  Italy  who 
were  going  to  seek  a  new  mother  beyond  the  sea.  It 
was  useless  to  reason  with  myself,  to  analyze  my 
state  of  mind,  and  try  to  be  persuaded  that  there 
was  no  good  reason  why,  on  that  day,  I  should  feel, 
like  the  rest,  a  horror  of  great  darkness,  while  on 
other  days,  unlike  the  rest,  I  found  all  bright  and 
smiling.  My  sombre  thoughts,  kept  for  a  few 
moments  at  bay,  came  rushing  back  the  instant  I 
slackened  in  my  effort  to  repel  them  and  overflowed 
the  inmost  recessesof  mv  soul.  I  do  not  know  how  lon<* 

«/  o 

I  was  a  prey  to  these  imaginings,  but  at  last  I  fell 
asleep,  and  dreamed  a  horrible  dream.  I  was  in  my 
own  house,  and  it  was  night ;  it  was  a  confusion  of 
lights  and  of  faces  that  I  did  not  know;  someone 


Devil  S>a#.  303 

with  the  death-rattle  on  him,  in  some  room  of  which 
I  could  not  find  the  door ; — then,  in  a  flash,  a  change 
of  scene,  a  fearful  cry  of  "  Save  yourselves  I1'-— and 
all  the  mad  disorder  of  a  foundering  ship. 

At  this  moment  there  was  a  great  noise  and  I 
awoke.  I  don't  know  whether  I  had  slept  three 
hours  or  five  minutes.  A  ray  of  light  gleamed  in 
the  stateroom.  The  noise  above  increased.  There 
were  voices  of  people  calling  one  another  by  name, 
there  was  a  sound  of  hurrying  feet  and  of  confusion 
as  at  a  sudden  cry  of  danger.  I  sprang  out  of  my 
stateroom,  while  from  all  the  others  the  inmates  came 
running,  and  hastened  up  on  deck,  where  was  already 
a  crowd  of  people.  Looking  forward,  I  perceived 
that  every  living  thing  from  every  hole  and  corner 
of  the  ship  had  come  out  into  the  light,  the  ship  was 
black  from  stem  to  stern  with  people,  and  everyone 
rushed  to  the  starboard  side,  clambering  on  the  bul- 
warks, the  cattle  pens,  the  benches,  the  shrouds,  and 
looking  out  over  the  sea.  I  saw  nothing  ;  a  rampart 
of  backs  concealed  the  horizon.  I  questioned  two 
passers  by ;  they  rushed  on  and  took  no  notice.  Then 
I  went  up  on  the  bridge.  Ah  !  blessed  sight !  What 
a  lovely  thing  I  saw  !  A  huge  black  smoking  steamer, 
covered  with  flags  and  crowded  with  people,  was 
coming  majestically  toward  us  under  the  clear  sky, 
her  high  bows  cleaving  the  blue  sea,  her  sails  swell- 
ing, all  festive,  all  gilded  with  the  sun  like  some 
wonder-creature  that  had  started  out  of  the  bosom 


304  ©n  Blue  Mater. 

of  the  ocean.  It  was  the  Dante  of  the  same  line, 
coming  from  the  Plata  River,  bound  for  Italy,  and 
full  of  emigrants  returning  to  their  own  country. 
It  was  the  first  larsre  steamer  we  had  met  since  com- 

O 

ing  out  of  the  Straits,  and  it  was  a  sister  ship.  At 
every  puff  from  her  huge  bestarred  funnels  she 
grew  larger,  and  the  thousand  forms  that  covered 
her  stood  out  more  and  more  distinctly.  The  two 
throngs  of  men  each  crowded  forward  and  looked  at 
one  another,  in  silence, — but  all  trembling.  The 
Dante  came  so  close  that  an  unexpected  surge  made 
us  roll  violently.  When  she  was  at  her  nearest  and 
showing  us  the  whole  length  of  her  magnificent  side, 
there  was  a  frantic  waving  of  hats  and  handkerchiefs ; 
and  a  great  shout,  long  suppressed,  broke  out  at  once 
from  the  two  crowds, — a  long-drawn  cry  of  good 
wishes  and  of  adieux  in  strangest  accents,  different 
from  any  cry  I  had  ever  heard  coming  from  a  throng 
of  men;  an  outburst  of  loud  quivering  voices  in 
which  the  sorrows  of  the  voyage,  the  yearning  for 
home,  the  glad  expectation  of  seeing  it  again,  the 
hope  of  one  day  beholding  it  once  more,  and  kindly 
joy  at  meeting  brothers  and  hearing  the  voice  of 
Italy  away  out  there  upon  the  Atlantic  were  con- 
fusedly mingled.  But  only  for  an  instant.  In  a  few 
moments  the  Dante  was  but  a  black  spot  upon  the 
blue,  hardlv  roughened  at  the  edsres  by  the  thousand 

»'  O  •/ 

heads  of  her  crowding  passengers.  But  that  rapid 
vision  had  changed  evervthinsf  on  board  the  Galileo. 

• 


306 


<§>u  Blue  Mater. 


had  reawakened  hope  and  courage,  had  aroused  the 
song  and  the  laugh,  had  brought  us  all  back  once 
more  to  kindly  feeling  and  to  life. 

"  Signore  ! "  I  heard  a  voice  say,  near  me.  I  turned. 
It  was  the  young  lady  from  Mestre,  who  touched  the 
Garibaldian  with  her  fan.  He  turned  towards  her, 
and  the  girl,  with  a  face  illumined  by  a  flash  from 
her  inner  soul,  pointed  to  the  vanishing  ship,  and 
said,  in  her  sweet  voice,  "Our  country." 


CHAPTER  XVII 


IN    EXTREMIS 

HE  next  morning  all  met  on  deck 
with  the  same  cheerful  greet- 
ing :  "  Three  days  more  !  Almost 
run  out  (Siamo  agli  sgoccioli)  \ 
Day  after  to-morrow  ! "  Strange 
enough.  This  unusual  kindness 
among  the  passengers  arose  in  great  measure  from 
the  thought  that  they  were,  before  long,  to  get  shut 
of  one  another  for  good  and  all.  The  weather  was 
fine,  the  air  soft.  The  forecastle  wras  like  a  village 
on  a  holiday.  On  the  way  thither  I  met  the  old 
hunchbacked  sailor  with  a  pair  of  shoes  in  his  hand 
and  deep  thought  on  his  countenance.  He  stopped 
and  said,  softly,  E  donne.  Te  brutto  quando  demean, 
ma  Pe  pezo  quando  rian. — "  These  women  !  It 's 
bad  when  they  cry,  but  it 's  worse  when  they  laugh." 
And  he  explained  me  his  idea,  which  was  founded 
upon  experience.  Whenever  there  was,  namely,  as 
yesterday,  great  cheerfulness  on  board,  there  almost 

307 


308  <sm  JBlue  Mater* 

always  followed  that  evening,  or  night,  some  dire- 
ful trouble — for  him,  that  is  to  say,  and  naturally 
enough.  The  night  before,  for  example,  "there  was 
such  a  time  lascih,  down  there."  "Great  doings, 
hey?"  I  asked  him.  He  rolled  up  his  eyes,  then 
said,  rather  sharply,  "  Son  sti'tffo  de  fa  o  ruffian"  and 

so  moved   off   as  be  saw  the  a^eiit  coming.     This 

~  ~ 

gentleman,  also,  was  very  thoughtful,  tormented  by 
two  mysteries  which  he  could  not  penetrate ;  one 
already  set  forth,  namely,  who  it  was  that  that 
dried-up  little  bit  of  a  piano  player  was  sighing 
after,  for  he  cauirht  her  leering  all  the  time,  and 

O  O 

never  could  see  at  whom,  "like  making  love  with 

'  O 

a  spirit,  you  know";  the  other  was  that  he  had  not 
marked  the  slightest  sign  on  anyone's  face  of  the 
"scene"  with  which  the  captain  had  threatened  the 
Swiss  lady.  Comical  enough  it  was  to  find  this 
white-haired  old  fellow  seriously  occupied  with 
trifles  like  these,  just  as  a  minister  of  state  might  be 
with  the  threads  of  a  conspiracy.  Yet  they  say  that 
the  sea  enlarges  the  thoughts.  But  then,  he  went 

Zj  O  ' 

on,  the  captain  knew  what  he  was  about,  was  not  a 
man  to  threaten  to  no  purpose  in  such  a  matter  as 
that.  Who  could  have  charmed  away  the  tempest? 
Oh  !  he  would  rack  his  brains  and  find  out  all  about 
it  if  he  had  to  stand  on  watch  three  days  and  three 
nights,  like  a  ti^er  hunter. 

~  '  O 

The  happy  mood  of  the  passengers  favored  his  in- 
vestigations.    Shortly  after  nine  nearly  all  were  out 


flu  JEjtremis.  3°9 

on  deck ;  and  the  groups  and  their  movements  are 
stamped  on  my  memory  like  those  seen  in  the  family 
circle  just  before  some  domestic  crisis.  The  Argen- 
tines were  gathered  around  the  wheel ;  the  Mar- 
sigliese  lounged  chatting  before  the  Porteiia  lady, 
who  listened  to  him  with  a  fine  equivocal  woman's 
smile  of  blended  mockery  and  courtesy.  The  Bra- 
zilian family,  in  its  usual  place,  rolled  its  twelve 
slow  eyes  around  as  if  it  saw  all  present  for  the  first 
time ;  and  at  the  mother's  feet  the  n egress  was  curled 
up  like  a  dog.  By  the  mast  stood  our  "  thief,"  our 
"  scape-gallows,"  and  the  "  Director  of  the  Society  for 
no-more-bad-smelling-cesspools."  They  had  been 
several  days  in  each  other's  company  without  saying 
a  word,  like  so  many  deaf-mutes.  The  advocate  was 
dozing  on  a  deck  chair  with  a  book  upon  his  stom- 
ach. The  blonde  lady  was  sitting  chirping  between 
the  tenor  and  the  Peruvian,  whose  knee  was  cov- 
ered by  her  spreading  skirt,  and  on  the  settee  far- 
thest off  was  the  young  lady  from  Mestre,  paler  than 
usual,  save  for  her  cheek  bones,  which  were  burning. 
She  talked  with  feverish  eagerness,  but  with  a  smile 
of  inexpressible  sweetness,  to  the  Garibaldi  an,  who 
sat  near,  his  powerful  face  bent  like  a  thoughtful 
man  listening  to  music  that  brings  back  memories 
but  no  illusions.  The  rest  were  promenading  with 
the  brisk  irregular  pace  of  cheerful  creatures. 

The  horizon  was  veiled   with   a  light  cloud,  and 
there  was  a  kind  of  heaviness  in  the  air  that  made 


3io  ©n  Blue  Mater, 

one  feel  from  time  to  time  the  need  of  drawing  a 
long  breath.  But  the  heat  was  mild  compared  with 
that  of  several  days  past.  The  Argentines  declared 
they  smelled  the  aires  of  their  own  country.  "We 
were  in  the  latitude  of  Santa  Caterina,  on  the  coast 
of  Brazil — there  or  thereabouts. 

A  moment  more,  and  the  Genoese  came  on  deck, 
rubbing  his  hands,  and  remarking  as  he  passed, 
"  The  barometer  is  falling." 

The  fact  is,  he  longed  even  for  a  hurricane,  so  only 
he  might  get  rid  of  the  deadly  dulness  that  was 
preying  upon  his  mind.  But  was  he  a  bird  of  ill 
omen,  after  all  ?  The  mercury  had  fallen  all  of  a 
sudden  before  this,  and  the  billows  had  not  raged. 
We  say  of  the  people,  as  of  the  ocean,  that  when  it 
is  calm  one  wonders  how  it  can  be  otherwise ;  when 
we  see  it  in  a  fury  the  marvel  is  how  it  can  ever 
quiet  down  again.  But  now  the  veil  of  the  horizon 
was  growing  thicker  and  higher,  a  huge  mass  of 
grayish  vapor  stood  ready  to  obscure  the  sun;  the 
ruffled  sea  was  of  a  dull,  leaden  hue.  And  yet  I 
was  so  far  from  expecting  bad  weather  that  I  amused 
myself  with  watching  the  advocate.  lie  sat  up  very 
straight,  and  cast  around  upon  the  great  enemy  a 
slow  glance  of  increasing  disquietude,  looking  also 
from  time  to  time  at  the  captain's  stateroom  and  the 
bridge  beyond.  A  screaming  of  birds  made  me  look 
up.  Gulls  circling  around  the  mast.  A  bad  sign. 
And  more  impressive  than  all  was  to  see  a  weird- 


flu  lEjtremfs.  311 

looking  cloud  appear  suddenly  upon  the  horizon, 
thick,  black,  edged  with  white  from  the  pale  sun ; 
and,  rapidly  rising,  cast  a  dark  shadow  on  the  al- 
ready boiling  ocean.  It  was  almost  cold. 

The  passengers  were  already,  all  of  them,  aware 
of  the  change.  The  readers  had  closed  their  books, 
had  risen,  and  were  studying  the  horizon  with  that 
look  which  we  fix  upon  the  face  of  a  person  we  do 
not  know  and  who  comes,  as  we  surmise,  to  discuss 
an  important  matter.  A  flash  of  lightning  and  a  far- 
off  growl  of  thunder,  followed  by  a  sudden  rolling 
of  the  ship,  provoked  an  exclamation  or  two — "  Now 
then  !  What 's  this  ?  It  looks  squally."  The  ladies 
glanced  at  the  captain,  the  advocate  had  already  dis- 
appeared. Others  also  retired,  English  fashion.  This 
was  enough  to  cause  in  the  rest  an  extraordinary 
flow  of  spirits.  They  swaggered  in  the  face  of  old 
ocean,  like  so  many  gallant  admirals,  looking  the 
while  at  the  ladies  out  of  the  corner  of  an  eye.  The 
Marsigliese  passed  from  group  to  group,  saying  joy- 
ously :  "  fh  se  Ibrouille,  ga  se  brouille.  Nous  allons 
voir  un  joli  spectacle  !  "  And  in  fact  we  were  not 
to  be  kept  waiting  for  the  play.  The  heavy  cloud 
was  nearly  down  upon  us,  others  came  swiftly  on, 
and  certain  long,  thin  streaks  of  vapor  swept  so 
closely  over  us  as  almost  to  touch  the  spars.  The 
wind  was  rising,  the  sea  was  getting  up,  the  steamer 
was  more  uneasy  than  we  had  ever  known  her  to  be 
before.  We  had  to  cling  to  the  bulwarks  and  the 


312  ©n  JBlue  Mater. 

seats.  Still  there  were  some  who  would  not  believe 
we  were  to  have  a  storm.  "  It 's  only  a  squall,"  they 
said  ;  but  those  who  had  made  the  passage  before 
shook  their  heads  and  looked  knowing. 

I  perfectly  remember  that,  watching  myself  more 
carefully  than  I  did  the  others,  I  awaited  with  a  cer- 
tain psychological  interest  and  curiosity  the  moment 
when  the  feeling  which  we  are  all  ashamed  to  con- 

O 

fess  should  come  over  me ;  and  I  flattered  myself 
that  I  should  be  able  to  mark  its  slow  advance.  I 
did  not  know  that  it  was  to  spring  upon  me  all  of  a 
sudden  ;  at  that  moment,  namely,  when  the  instinct 
of  self-preservation  should  be  thrown  into  the  bal- 
ance and  the  scale  of  curiosity  kick  the  beam.  In 
short,  while  yet  on  shore,  I  had  often  desired  to  try 
what  a  storm  at  sea  was  like,  and  lo  !  a  happy  chance 
for  the  artist  to  record.  But  as  I  looked  at  the  piaz- 
zetta  and  saw  officers,  engineers,  sailors,  and  stewards 
throng  around  the  shouting  and  gesticulating  cap- 
tain and  then  scatter  in  every  direction  to  double 
lash  the  boats,  to  nail  up  the  pigpens,  to  batten  down 
the  hatches,  to  secure  the  air-ports;  plunging  with 
furious  haste  through  the  crowds  that  were  rushing 

o  o 

for  shelter  from  the  spray;  then,  if  you  must  know, 
I  looked  for  the  artist  within  me  and  found  him 
not.  In  fact  he  seemed  to  have  been  gone  about 
a  quarter  of  an  hour. 

The  lightning  flashed  faster,  the  thunder  growled 

O  O  iT' 

more  loudly,  the  oxen    bellowed.     I  looked  about 


Hn  Ejtremis.  313 

me  upon  faces  already  pale.  But  in  some  curiosity, 
in  others  dislike  to  be  shut  up  in  their  staterooms 
still  prevailed.  The  ladies  clung  to  their  husbands' 
arms.  The  men  looked  at  one  another  with  doubt- 
ful glance,  each  gathering  pride  and  courage  from 
seeing  the  rest  look  more  pale  and  wretched  than  he 
supposed  himself  to  be.  Suddenly  a  shower  of  spray 
on  deck,  a  suppressed  Nom  de  Die  a  !  and  a  forced 
laugh.  The  Marsigliese  had  lost  his  hat,  and  was 
sluiced  from  head  to  foot.  At  the  same  moment 
four  sailors  came  running  up  to  carry  off  the  benches 
and  the  chairs.  Then  the  commissary  :  "  Go  below, 
all  of  you  !  We  are  going  to  batten.  Quick,  if  you 
please  ! "  Then  was  heard  a  wail  from  the  bottom 
of  a  soul,  "  O  my  God  !  my  God  ! "  It  was  the 
young  bride.  Try  to  imagine  the  deep  echo  in  every- 
one's nature  of  that  first  cry,  that  irrepressible  con- 
fession of  the  fear  of  death,  that  violently  unmasks 
a  state  of  mind  which  everyone  has  been  disguising 
from  others  and  from  himself.  Then  ensued  a  disor- 
derly and  precipitate  flight  through  the  sheets  of  spray 
that  dashed  across  the  deck,  a  confusion  of  excited 
and  discordant  voices:  O  Pablos,  Pablos ! — Quick, 
if  you  please  ! — Blessed  Virgin,  our  time  has  come  !— 
My  God  ! — Accidempoli  !  * — Courage,  Nina  ! — Good 
God  !  -will  you  make  haste  there  !  I  had  but  time  to 
see  the  masts  sweep  in  enormous  arcs  across  the  sky 

1  Accidempoli,  wholly    untranslatable.     "Damnation!''   suggests 
the  same  idea — the  result  of  dying  without  absolution. 


3i4  ©n  JBlue  Mater. 

and  to  mark  a  frightful  jostling  of  people  at  the 
companion-way  of  the  third-class  when  I  was  violently 
hurled  into  the  saloon.  A  lady  stumbled  and  fell 
across  the  entrance.  I  had  a  glimpse  of  the  com- 
missary on  the  quarter-deck,  wrapped,  as  it  were,  in 
a  sheet  of  water,  and  I  heard  the  far-off  neighing 
of  a  horse.  Then  we  were  shut  in.  A  flash  of  light- 
ning, an  instant  and  terrific  roar  of  thunder ;  and,  as 
a  frightful  lurch  of  the  vessel  dashed  us  to  the  deck 
and  against  the  sides,  the  last  doubt  which  anyone 
could  possibly  have  entertained  was  dispelled  at 
once.  It  was  a  full-grown  hurricane. 

O 

The  greater  part,  grasping  the  firmly  fastened  din- 
ing-tables  and  staggering  as  if  half-stuuned,  made 
for  their  staterooms.  Some  threw  themselves  on  the 
sofas.  The  ladies  wept.  The  noises  of  the  ship 
drowned  all  voices.  It  seemed  to  be  nearly  night. 
Persons,  places,  everything,  appeared  changed  ;  for  at 
such  a  moment,  when  all  disguise  drops  off  and  the 
human  animal  is  left  bare,  prostrate,  wholly  swayed 
by  furious  love  of  life,  the  countenance  is  drawn, 
the  voice  is  strange,  and  look  and  gesture  reveal 

O     7  O 

traits  of  character  before  undreamed  of.  In  the  half- 
lis^ht  of  the  corridors,  Avhere  all  were  falling  over  one 

o  *  o 

another  as  they  groped  each  for  his  own  stateroom,  I 
caught  sight  of  faces  that  were  agonized, — distorted 
almost  beyond  recognition,  as  of  men  condemned  to 
die.  As  I  turned  into  my  own  lair,  the  retchings  of 
the  sea-sick  began  to  be  heard,  lamentable  voices 


1fn  JEjtremis.  315 

called  for  the  stewards,  the  doors  slammed  loudly, 
trunks  and  boxes,  breaking  away,  were  hurled  against 
the  bulkheads.  It  was  the  hurly-burly  of  strange 
cries  and  dismal  sounds  one  hears  on  going  into  a 
madhouse,  where  life  and  its  ways  are  all  confounded. 
A  sudden  lurch  tossed  me  into  the  stateroom  like  a 
gripsack,  a  flash  of  lightning  dazzled  me ;  the  door 
swuno-  to.  I  was  in  an  immense  and  hideous  soli- 

o 

tude  as  if  shut  up  by  my  own  hand  in  my  own  living 
tomb ;  and  a  sudden  thought  froze  my  blood  :  What 
if  I  should  never  get  out  of  this  place  again  ? 

Yes  !  there  is  the  truth,  told  honestly.  This  one 
thought,  stern,  cold,  sharp,  immovable,  fastened  on 
my  soul  with  its  hooks  of  steel ;  the  idea,  a  hundred 
times  repelled  and  a  hundred  times  rushing  back 
upon  me,  of  the  noise  the  water  would  make  when 
it  broke  in,  of  how  many  seconds  it  would  take  to 
reach  my  door,  of  the  sudden  darkness,  of  the  chok- 
ing of  the  drowning.  .  .  .  And  then  the  beset- 

O7  O 

ting,  horrid  fear  that  my  suffering  might  be  prolonged. 
Confusedly  I  tried  to  recall  what  I  had  heard  and 
read  to  confirm  me  in  the  hope  of  a  short  agony. 
And  well  do  I  remember  that  the  idea  of  having 
desired,  from  mere  curiosity,  to  try  what  a  hurricane 
was  like,  seemed  senseless,  incredible,  unnatural, 
monstrous.  "  Fool !  "  I  thought,  "  you  wished  for 
this,  did  you  ? — and  now  you  have  it." 

But  these  phantasmal  shapes  were  all  routed,  as 
it  were,  by  the  vigorous  bodily  efforts  I  was  forced  to 


3i 6  <§m  JBlue  Mater, 

make,  as,  falling  on  my  knees  upon  the  floor,  I 
clung  with  might  and  main  to  the  side  of  the  berth ; 
the  only  way  to  prevent  my  being  dashed  about  as 
the  rat  is  shaken  in  the  trap.  My  brain,  too,  was 
stunned  by  the  uproar  in  the  saloon  above,  where  the 
glass  of  the  sideboards  was  being  smashed  to  pieces 
and  piles  of  plates  hurled  in  fragments  to  the  floor; 
while  the  piano,  breaking  from  its  fastenings,  was 
thundering  to  and  fro  among  the  stanchions  of  the 
deck.  But  worse  than  all  this  tumult  as  of  a  sacked 
and  plundered  palace,  worse  than  human  groans  or 
the  uplifted  voice  of  the  raging  sea,  was  the  noise  of 
our  laboring  ship,— a  dread  shrieking,  a  concert  of 
pound,  and  crack,  and  crash,  as  if  a  house  were  being 
torn  from  its  foundations;  a  dire  lament  as  if  the 
mighty  giant  suffered  and  cried  out  as  thrills  of  ter- 
ror and  of  anguish  sped  through  the  wrenched  joints 
of  his  living  body.  Vain  to  try  and  gather  courage 
from  statistics,  and  what  not — one  wreck  to  a  thou- 
sand voyages,  or  whatever  it  may  have  been.  Useless 
to  recall  the  firm  structure  of  these  ships  that  could 
set  at  nought  the  fury  of  the  sea.  That  ceaseless 
dirge  scattered  all  statistics  to  the  winds,  and  laughed 
to  scorn  all  consolation.  Meanwhile,  the  sea  rose 
higher,  the  rain  came  down  in  cataracts,  the  light- 
ning flashed  fast  and  faster,  the  thunder  roared 

O  ' 

almost  incessantly,  and  the  ship  gave  such  bounds 
that  when  my  eyes  were  closed  I  seemed  to  be  upon 
a  gigantic  swing  with  a  sweep  of  half  a  mile.  I  lost 


flu  Extremis.  317 

my  breath  with  every  rush,  and  caught  it  as  best  I 
might  between  the  whiles.  And  thus  to  be  at  the 
mercy  of  a  prodigious  power  which  left  me  free 
neither  to  move  nor  think  brought  on  an  inexpres- 
sible sense  of  physical  dread,  as  if  I  were  a  beast 
bound  fast  and  whirled  in  mid-air  at  the  end  of  a 
stupendous  well-sweep.  And  then,  to  think  this 
torment  might  last  ten  hours,  a  day,  three  days, 
confused  the  soul  like  trying  to  grasp  the  infinite. 

Up  to  a  certain  point  I  kept  my  mind  clear  enough 
t<>  remember  what  my  thoughts  were ;  but  after  two 
or  three  hours,  as  I  conjecture  it,  the  fury  of  the 
storm  increasing  beyond  all  measure,  my  brain  was 
stunned,  and  I  can  tell  but  little  of  what  was  pass- 
ing in  in}"  mind.  I  remember  the  tremendous  tones 
of  the  sea,  more  strange  and  frightful  than  any  ima- 
gination can  conceive,  a  voice  as  of  all  human  crea- 
tion crowded  together,  mad  and  shrieking ;  with  this 
the  yells  and  howls  of  all  the  beasts  of  earth,  the 
crash  of  toppling  cities,  the  hurrah  of  countless  ar- 
mies,— whole  peoples  bursting  into  savage,  mocking 
laughter ;  then  the  whistling  of  the  gale  among  the 
rigging,  a  long,  sonorous,  most  discordant  wail,  as  if 
every  rope  were  a  demon's  harpstring ;  maddened 
screams  of  terror  and  despair,  as  of  captives  in  a 
flaming  prison-house ;  heart-chilling  hisses,  as  if  a 
thousand  furious  serpents  were  twining  about  the 
masts.  The  ship  rolled  and  pitched  and  lurched  as 
if  she  would  overset ;  at  every  surge  that  struck  her 


3i 8  ©n  Blue  Mater. 

she  would  quiver  from  deck  to  keel  as  if  she  had 
run  upon  a  rock,  while  plank  and  timber  groaned 
and  cracked  again,  and  the  senses  thrilled  as  at  the 
graze  of  a  falling  axe  or  the  wind  of  a  ball  that  cuts 
the  hair  away.  At  every  plunge  it  was  as  if  the 
stroke  of  a  vast  and  monstrous  paw  had  torn  a  piece 
out  of  the  ship.  Thud  after  thud  there  came  as  a 
hundred  tons  of  water  ruined  down  upon  the  deck 
like  a  cataract  from  on  high,  and  then  the  rush  of  a 
hundred  streams  from  side  to  side,  like  so  many 
hordes  of  vengeful  pirates.  What  the  ship  would 
do  next  I  could  not  tell  at  all.  She  was  a  helpless 
creature,  cuffed  and  kicked ;  she  was  a  ball  thrown 
one  way  and  struck  another  by  a  resistless  Titan's 
hand.  The  engine  had  its  pauses,  as  if  stricken  with 
paralysis ;  the  shaft  would  bang  and  struggle  ;  the 
screw,  hove  out  of  water,  would  race  madly  for  an 
instant,  and  then  plunge  down  again  with  a  blow 
that  shook  the  vessel  like  an  earthquake.  And,  in 
the  pauses  of  the  greater  uproar,  were  heard,  above, 
the  rushing  of  eager  feet,  the  whirr  of  the  electric 
bell,  weird  cries  and  shouts  that  sounded  strange  as 

O 

echoes  from  a  snow-filled  valley,  wails  from  the 
staterooms,  retchings  choked,  strangled,  agonized,  as 
if  all  within  were  coming  up.  Then,  suddenly  there 
came  an  upward  blow  so  violent  that  the  water  jug 
flew  out  of  the  rack,  and  was  dashed  to  pieces  against 
the  deck  above;  whereon  be^an  a  still  more  fiendish 

O 

orgie  of  the  unchained  elements,  the  ship  gave  leap 


flu  Ejtremis.  319 

after  leap,  and  I  was  as  if  hurled  from  peak  to  peak 
across  a  measureless  abyss.  Every  plunge  seemed 
as  if  it  would  be  the  last.  Again  and  again  I  said, 
"It  is  all  over!"  I  could  not  believe  but  that  the 
deck  was  split  open  above  my  head,  the  floor  burst- 
ing up  beneath  my  feet,  the  ship's  great  ribs  twisted, 
her  knees  torn  from  their  fastenings,  her  keel  snapped 
short  across,  her  bolts  and  nails  drawn  shrieking  out 
her  whole  frame  dismembered.  "What,  not  yet? 
The  next  time  then — she  '11  never  stand  another ! " 
Then  came  a  chaos  of  ideas,  memories  of  old  times 
and  things  of  yesterday,  a  giddy  whirl  of  faces  and 
of  places,  all  confused  and  distorted  as  by  a  fever  of 
the  brain,  and  all  aglow  with  livid  light ;  a  fierce, 
disordered  stream  of  sighs,  of  weeping  and  lament,  of 
prayers  without  any  words,  of  caresses,  and  of  re- 
morse,— and  all  this  swept  back  and  forth  as  by  the 
breath  of  the  dreadful  wind  outside. 

From  time  to  time  a  stupor,  a  lull  in  the  thoughts 
like  that  produced  by  chloroform  ;  a  short  relief,  and 
then  again,  more  frightful  than  before,  the  grim 
reality  as  if  two  tremendous  hands  had  shaken  me 
by  the  shoulders,  and  a  terrible  voice  had  shouted 
in  my  ear :  "  It 's  you  !  It  's  you,  and  no  one  else  ! 
Here  you  are,  and  you  must  die  !  "  Alas  !  how  vain 
the  thought  that  comes  in  tranquil  moments,  that  it 
is  all  one  how  we  pass  away  !  Oh,  to  die  with  a  bul- 
let in  my  heart !  Oh,  to  die  upon  my  bed  with  dear 
ones  around  me,  and  loving  friends  to  care  for  me ! 


320  ©u  Blue  Mater. 

Oh,  to  be  laid  in  my  little  bit  of  earth,  and  have  my 
children  come  and  say  above  me,  "  Here  he  lies  " ! 
At  times  these  thoughts  would  cease,  and  it  seemed 
for  a  moment  as  if  the  fury  of  the  tempest  were  re- 
laxing, but  another  surge  would  come,  and  a  giddy 
whirl  of  the  screw,  as  the  vessel's  stern  sprang  out 
of  water,  swept  the  flattering  unction  from  my  soul. 
I  remember,  too,  an  invincible  horror  of  looking  at 
the  sea,  a  shuddering  aversion  like  that  of  the  victim 
for  his  assassin,  as  if  in  that  dread  hour  I  could  per- 
ceive a  live  ferocity,  a  hatred  of  man  in  the  sweep 
of  the  crested  billows,  and  see  hideous  faces  grinning 
horribly  at  me  through  the  glass  of  the  air  port.  I 
could  not  look ;  I  turned  my  eyes  away  at  the  first 
glimpse  of  those  Cyclopean  walls,  those  black,  rolling, 
thundering  mountains,  as  they  fell  and  dashed  each 
other  into  spray ;  and  as  the  volleyed  lightning 
streaked  with  fire  those  threatening  heaps  of  murky 
cloud,  it  was  a  liiHit  that  seemed  to  be  neither  night 

1  O  O 

nor  day — not  a  gleam  of  earth  but  the  glare  of  a 
dream  landscape  where  our  own  sun  is  not.  All 
sense  of  time  was  lost.  I  could  not  tell  how  lou^ 

O 

the  storm  had  lasted,  or  guess  how  many  hours  it 
would  endure.  It  seemed  as  if  it  must  last  for- 
ever, for  I  could  not  conceive  what  there  might  be 
that  should  put  an  end  to  so  tremendous  a  convul- 
sion. Impossible  I  thought  that  the  gulfs  of  night 
below  were  not  stirred  up.  Impossible  to  believe 
that  certain  fathoms  down  in  the  great  deep  there 


flu  fijtremis.  321 

was  tranquil  water ;  that  on  the  dry  land  there  were 
peaceful  people  and  there  was  quiet  business.  A 
lull ;  an  instant's  respite,  as  I  thus  reflected,  and 
then  another  roller  dashed  its  sur^e  against  her  side 

O  O 

with  a  shock  as  of  a  cannon-ball ;  the  ship  bounded 
like  a  harpooned  whale,  her  timbers  groaned,  her 
planks  creaked,  her  bolts  and  nails  shrieked  once 
more,  and  a  fresh  sense  came  over  me  of  ray  hideous 
peril,  of  death  standing  in  the  very  doorway.  This 
is  the  last  of  earth,  I  thought ;  and  the  anguish  of  a 
year  was  crowded  into  a  moment.  How  long,  O, 
Lord,  how  long  ? 

It  was  many  hours,  seven  or  eight  it  may  have 
been,  when  my  ever-passing,  still-recurring  idea  that 
the  o^ale  was  blowing;  itself  out  seemed  to  stay  longer 

O  O  «/  O 

as  it  came  back  ;  it  changed  into  a  hope  that  the 
soul  hardly  dared  cherish,  but  which  the  senses 
gradually  confirmed.  The  ship  still  rolled  and 
dashed  with  fury,  but  that  hateful,  angry  howling  in 
the  rigging  seemed  quieted  a  little,  and  the  beating 
of  the  sea,  if  not  less  fierce,  yet  certainly  less  fre- 
quent. It  was  a  good  sign  that  I  felt  how  bruised 
and  tired  my  body  was  with  those  acrobatic  feats  to 
which  I  had  been  forced  for  so  many  hours.  Until 
now  I  had  noticed  nothing;  of  the  kind.  And  1  had 

O 

a  little  curiosity  as  to  what  was  going  on  around 
me.  Through  the  groaning  of  the  timbers  and  the 
roaring  of  the  sea  I  heard  the  wails  of  the  Brazilian 
baby,  and  childlike  sobs  and  cries  that  must  have 


322  ©n  Blue  Mater, 

come  from  women.  Feeble  voices  called  out  here 
and  there  for  the  stewards.  Bells  jingled.  Trunks 
and  boxes  still  went  raging  up  and  down  the  cor- 
ridors like  so  many  wild  beasts  broken  loose.  But, 
choosing  well  my  time,  so  as  not  to  break  my  head 
against  the  wall,  I  made  a  dart  and  seized  the  jamb 
of  the  doorway  to  look  out.  I  saw  certain  human 
forms  with  wild  hair  and  clothes  in  disorder  dragging 
themselves  about  and  staggering  like  drunken  men. 
Among  these  was  the  Marsigliese  with  all  the 
marks  in  his  face  of  a  deadly  fright  which  was  pass- 
ing off  but  would  not  leave  him  altogether.  And 
in  fact  a  new  lurch  of  the  ship  from  time  to  time, 
and  a  fresh  cracking  of  her  poor  strained  ribs,  drove 
me  back  to  hold  on  with  both  hands  to  my  berth  as 
if  the  fiendish  dance  were  to  go  on  with  more  fury 
than  ever.  Between  one  recrudescence  and  another, 
I  strained  my  ears  to  hear  whether  in  the  next  state- 
room the  anguish  of  a  common  danger  had  not  slack- 
ened somewhat  the  high-strung  cords  of  hatred.  I 
was  amazed  to  catch  sounds  as  of  a  reconciliation, 
but  soon  changed  my  mind  as  an  evil  voice  hissed 
out  distinctly,  "  Ah  !  you  hoped  it  was  all  over,  did 
you  ?  "  There  was  no  reply.  The  first  note  of  real 
encouragement  was  a  general  laugh  from  the  direc- 
tion of  the  Argentines.  From  the  door  opposite  I 
heard  the  voice  of  the  tenor  attempting  a  shake. 
The  sound  was  cut  short  by  a  dull  thump  that 
seemed  uncommonly  like  a  collision  between  a  hu- 


flu  Ejtremis.  323 

man  head  and  the  side  of  the  ship.  Then  for  a 
space  I  heard  no  more  voices.  The  groaning  of  the 
ship  and  the  roar  of  the  sea  were  still  enough  to 
stun  the  senses,  and  the  rolling  fit  to  break  four  legs, 
not  to  say  two.  But  it  was  possible  to  get  out. 
Swinging  myself  from  one  support  to  another,  and 
calculating  every  step,  I  managed  to  reach  where  the 
corridors  crossed.  What  a  sight !  The  doors  of  the 
staterooms  were  slamming  to  and  fro,  and  one  could 
mark  an  indescribable  raffle  of  trunks  and  pillows 
and  clothes  and  boots  ;  heads  danijrlino;  over  basins  ; 

O  O  * 

bodies  lying  as  if  dead  ;  garments  in  disorder ;  jugs 
and  pitchers  rolling  about  the  floor.  Still  the  mo- 
tion was  less  violent,  so  I  moved  on  and  met  the 
Genoese,  who  with  bandaged  head  was  bumping 
along  the  wall  and  using  exceedingly  bad  language. 
"  What  is  the  matter  I "  I  asked.  He  swore,  but 
proceeded  to  explain.  Perishing  with  hunger,  he 
had  crawled  down  to  the  pantry  for  a  bit  of  ham,  a 
biscuit,  or  something,  and  a  roll  of  the  ship  had 
flung  him  against  the  sideboard,  cutting  his  forehead 
open.  Then  came  a  clear  voice  from  the  stateroom 
of  the  Argentines : 

Hijo  audaz  de  la  llanura 

Y  guardian  de  nuestro  cielo     .     .    . 

The  rogues  were  hymning  the  pampero  to  which 
they  owed  those  eight  hours  in  the  jaws  of  death. 

But  the  gale  had  blown  itself  out,  though  there 
was  still  a  high  sea  running.     Haggard  faces  looked 


3*4  <§>n  Blue  Mater. 

out  of  the  doorways  with  inquiring  air  and  quickly 
drew  back.  A  voice  which  I  took  for  that  of  the 
first  officer  called  from  the  head  of  the  stairs,  u  It 's 
over,  good  people  ! "  And  answering  exclamations 
from  the  staterooms  :  "  Thank  God  !  thank  God  ! 
Oh  !  can  it  be  true  ?  Laudate  Domimnn!  We  're 
well  out  of  that !  "  But  a  thrill  of  life  ran  through 
the  place  as  in  a  cemetery  where  the  buried  dead 
begin  to  rub  their  eyes  and  stretch  their  limbs. 
Someone  touched  me  on  the  shoulder.  It  was  the 
agent,  in  a  dressing-gown,  a  bruise  upon  his  chin,  but 
joyous.  "  Ah  !  what  a  scene  !  "  he  said  ;  "  I  heard  it 
all."  He  was  speaking  of  the  bride  and  bridegroom. 
In  the  midst  of  the  peril  they  had  fallen  to  praying, 
he  said,  then  they  had  exchanged  farewells,  sobbing ; 
he  had  begged  her  to  forgive  him  for  having  brought 
her  on  that  voyage ;  then  a  last  kiss — a  good  many 
last  kisses,  in  fact.  "  A  k!  Kin  a  inia  ' r  "  Ah!  moe 
povco  Genmo?  And  more  last  kisses,  you  know, 
but  no  Spanish  grammar.  So  saying,  he  disappeared, 
but  straightway  returned,  devious,  and  beckoned  me 
to  come  quickly,  for  there  was  something  worth  see- 
ing. I  followed  him  as  best  I  might.  He  stopped 
before  the  open  door  of  the  advocate's  stateroom, 
and,  bursting  Avith  laughter,  bade  me  look  in.  Such 
a  creature  was  never  seen  !  I  hardly  recognized  hu- 
manity in  the  formless  thing  that  I  saw  stretched 
upon  the  floor,  and  from  which  came  such  wailings 
as  Ernesto  llossi  utters  when,  in  his  part  of  Louis 


flu  Ejtremis.  325 

XL,  he  is  struck  down  by  Nemours.  It  was  the  ad- 
vocate, flat  on  his  face.  Dressed  in  some  English  or 
American  life-preserving  garment  or  other,  stuffed 
with  cork,  he  had  a  hump  on  his  back  and  a  hump 
on  his  breast  covered  with  a  cuirass  of  stout  cotton- 
cloth,  and  round  his  chest  there  was  a  string  of  in- 
flated bladders  that  made  him  look  like  some  strange 
mammal  which,  with  much  swollen  glands,  had  fallen 
senseless  to  the  earth.  This  outrageous  load  of  ridi- 
cule awakened  an  infinite  compassion  for  the  poor 
crushed  and  unhappy  man.  The  agent  bent  over 
him  to  try  and  bring  him  to  his  senses,  and  I  left 
him  to  his  pious  task. 

With  difficulty  I  reached  the  saloon,  where  there 
were  already  many  passengers,  the  Marsigliese,  the 
Tuscan,  the  mill-owner,  the  French  commercial  trav- 
eller, the  tall  priest,  and  others.  Not  one  lady. 
The  lightning  still  flashed  from  time  to  time,  but  the 
thunder  was  infrequent  and  far  off.  The  sea  was 
high  and  black,  and  no  one  could  keep  his  feet. 
Strange  nature  of  man  !  It  was  already  plain  to  be 
seen  from  the  bearing  of  these  people  that  the  very 
tempest  was  a  thing  agreeable  to  their  self-love,  as  if 
their  not  going  to  the  bottom  had  somehow  been  the 
effect  of  every  man's  own  conduct,  and  that  they 
were  having  even  then  a  foretaste  of  the  pride  with 
which  in  after  years  they  would  tell  how  they  had 
fearlessly  faced  that  dreadful  peril.  Amazing  to  see 
the  coolness  with  which  more  than  one  whom  I  had 


326 


©n  JBlue  Mater. 


seen  as  pale  as  the  dying  put  on  the  look  of  courage 
before  those  to  whom  he  had  exhibited  not  long  be- 
fore the  most  evident  signs  of  abject  terror.     Some 
would  pace  back  and  forth 
from  table  to  table,  show- 
in  2;  off  their  sea  le^s  as 

O 

it  were,  and  laughing 

O  O 

at  every  remark 

with  lips 

that 

were 

still 

bloodless. 

The  Mar- 

sigliese  re- 

marked: 

"Je  me  svis 

enonnemetit  am- 

line."'1  The  mill-owner 

pretended  to  read  the  cabin 

album  !      Meanwhile    the 

stewards  brought  the  news 

from  on  deck.     The  sea  had 

carried  away  some  boats,  had  damaged  the  turkey 

coops  a  good  deal,  had  drowned  two  bullocks,  and 

stove  in  a  dead  eye  forward.     A  sailor,  hurled  against 

the  foremast,  had  been  badly  cut  in  the  head.     The 

canteen  was  a  good  deal  shattered.     But  the  mighty 

hull  of  the  Galileo  had  suffered  no  further  harm,  and 


Hn  Extremis.  327 

had  not  stopped  moving  for  an  instant.  At  this  last 
bit  of  news  the  flashing  eyes  of  everyone  gave  token 
that  human  pride,  but  now  humiliated,  was  set  up  once 
more,  with  bold  faith  in  the  work  which  the  science 
and  the  industry  of  the  race  had  made ;  a  work 
against  which  the  full  force  of  the  mighty  ocean  had 
been  vain  menace  and  nothing  more,  hardly  noticed 
and  already  forgotten.  Yet,  all  the  same,  when 
opened  doors  gave  us  permission  to  go  out,  not  one 
but  heaved  a  sigh  of  satisfaction,  as  if  only  then  as- 
sured that  it  was  all  over. 

Ah  !  Formidable  monster !  There  you  are  again, 
and  we  are  looking  one  another  in  the  face  once 
more  !  Ugly  and  threatening,  still,  he  was.  Huge 

O    «/ 

black  rollers,  crested  with  foam,  rushed  on  in  their 
dark  tumult,  shutting  in  the  horizon  on  every  side,  and 
canopied  by  a  gloomy  vault  of  clouds,  broken  here 
and  there  with  gray  rifts  of  twilight,  while  there 
rolled  beneath  a  mass  of  vapor  in  rapid  and  ill- 
boding  motion,  as  if  the  strife  were  about  to  begin 
once  more.  The  ship  was  soaking  wet  as  if  for 
those  eight  hours  she  had  been  under  water.  Every- 
where were  dirty  running  streams  and  spreading 
pools.  The  deck  houses,  the  masts,  the  boats  were 
dripping  with  the  sweat  of  battle.  Aft  and  forward 
the  men  were  hurrying  about  in  their  huge  boots, 
drenched  from  head  to  foot,  their  wet  hair  plastered 
on  face  and  neck,  their  bodies  beaten  out  with 
fatigue.  We  met  in  the  covered  way  the  captain, 


328  ©n  ffilue  Mater. 

panting,  perspiring,  red  in  the  face.  He  passed  on 
without  notice.  And  so,  tumbling  against  both 
sides  of  the  gangway,  wading  through  the  coal- 
colored  slush,  and,  jostled  by  the  busy  sailors,  we 
reached  the  forecastle. 

Here  were  many  persons  come  out  of  the  cabins 
and  holding  on  to  the  life-lines  stretched  across  the 
deck  for  the  use  of  the  crew.  They  presented  the 
doleful  appearance  of  a  throng  that  has  been  fleeing 
for  days  before  an  invading  army.  The  commissary, 
who  had  repeatedly  gone  down  into  the  cabin,  de- 
scribed scenes  fit  to  wring  the  heart  and  upset  the 
stomach.  He  had  seen  down  there  tangled  heaps  of 
human  bodies  lying  across  each  other;  breast  to 
back,  feet  thrust  into  faces,  clothes  in  disorder,  legs, 
arms,  dishevelled  hair ;  sprawling,  rolling  on  the  un- 
clean deck  in  the  tainted  air ;  with  sobs  and  wails 
and  cries  of  despair,  and  callings  on  the  saints  re- 
sounding in  every  direction.  Women  on  their  knees 
in  groups,  with  heads  bent  down,  telling  their  beads 
and  beating  their  breasts.  Some  in  loud  voice  were 
making  vows  to  go  to  a  certain  sanctuary  if  ever 
they  saw  their  native  land  again  ;  for  others  nothing 
would  do  but  they  must  confess  themselves,  and 
weeping  they  begged  the  commissary  to  bring  the 
friar,  who  was,  the  while,  exercising  his  office 
among  the  men.  Several  women  had  passionately 
prayed  for  permission  to  take  leave  of  their  hus- 
bands before  they  died  ;  others  again  to  go  on  deck 


flu  Extremis,  329 

one  instant  only,  and  cast  into  the  sea  some  saintly 
image  or  some  crucifix  to  calm  the  waves.  There 
were  those  who  adjured  him  in  God's  name  to  turn 
the  ship  around  and  go  back.  One  of  the  most 
frightened  was  that  counterfeit  lioness  of  a  Bologuese, 
who  sobbed  and  tore  her  hair,  and  called  upon  the 
saints  like  an  actress  on  the  stas;e.  And  he  told  one 

O 

or  two  cases  of  the  most  naive  terror.  A  poor  old 
woman  had  called  him  to  her  berth,  and,  placing  in 
his  hand  seventy  francs  in  silver,  had  begged  him,  in 
a  voice  choked  with  sobs,  to  see  that  this  money 
reached  her  brother  at  Parana,  since  they  all  were  to 
go  to  the  bottom  ;  as  if  it  were  a  law  of  nature  that, 
whatever  happened,  the  officers  and  crew  would 
reach  their  destination.  A  poor  peasant  woman 
fulling  from  her  berth  had  had  a  miscarriage ;  others 
had  lost  their  speech  from  fright,  and  could  only 
gesticulate  and  rave.  Even  then  there  were  many 
who  would  not  believe  that  the  peril  was  over,  but 
still  clung  convulsively  to  their  berths  and  refused 
all  comfort. 

These  women,  poor  creatures,  excited  the  more 
compassion  because  they  had  no  pride  to  make 
them  conceal  their  feelings.  Those  already  on  deck, 
all  dazed  and  exhausted,  and  some  with  bruised 
faces  and  bandaged  heads,  looked  at  the  sea  with 
that  eye  which  is  said  to  be  natural  in  the  Green- 
landers  ;  petrified,  as  it  were,  by  gazing  all  the  while 
upon  dismal  gloom ;  and  gave  a  dolorous  idea  of  the 


33°  ©n  Blue  Mater. 

condition  to  which  those  below  had  been  reduced. 
The  talkative  vivacity  which  usually  succeeds  an 
escape  from  peril  had  not  yet  supervened.  All  were 
yet  so  shaken  that  at  every  roller  larger  than  the 
rest,  at  every  deeper  lurch,  they  crowded  back  from 
the  bulwarks ;  and,  ready  once  more  to  fall  into  the 
old  terror,  would  look  at  the  bridge  as  if  to  get  an 
encouragement  from  the  faces  of  the  officers.  They 
only  then  began  to  grow  a  little  calm  when  they  saw 
the  relieved  fireman's  watch,  stripped  to  the  waist, 
with  crimson  faces  and  bathed  in  sweat,  come  up 
from  below,  proud  of  their  exertions  and  their  vic- 
tory, and  right  glad  of  a  little  rest ;  for  during  the 
gale  they  had  all  been  on  duty, — those  who  were 
shovelling  coal  held  firmly  by  the  rest  lest  they 
should  be  dashed  against  the  boilers  or  hurled  into 
the  burning  furnaces. 

But  as  the  first  stars  came  out,  light-hearted  care- 
lessness returned,  and  there  arose  a  cackle  as  if  all 
the  sixteen  hundred  passengers  were  talking  at  once. 
Everybody  was  telling  about  it ;  and  there  were 
descriptions — excited,  interminable,  a  dozen  times 
repeated — of  all  sorts  of  trifling  occurrences,  exag- 
gerated in  each  one's  imagination  until  they  grew  to 
be  events  worthy  of  history  or  poetry.  The  half  of 
these  people,  forgetting  or  denying  their  own  abject 
fear,  jeered  at,  pretended  to  despise,  and,  perhaps, 
really  did  despise  the  other  half  for  the  abject  terror 
they  had  shown. 


fln  JEjtremts. 


331 


After  supper  the  forward  part  of  the  ship  was 
vocal  with  singing  and  tipsy  shouting.  And  at 
our  table,  too,  there  was  mirth  and  jollity.  We  all 
fed  like  wolves  for  joy  of  being  alive,  and  we 
set  the  terrors  of  the  sea  at  nought.  The  feast 
wound  up  with  a  toast  from  the  Marsigliese  to  the 
intrepidite  froide  of  the  captain,  pronounced  with  the 
knowing  air  of  one  who  has  been  there  before.  The 
advocate  did  not  appear.  And,  to  the  great  sorrow 
of  all,  the  young  lady  from  Mestre  also  was  not  in 
her  place.  She  had  been  much  shaken  by  those 
eight  Lours  of  terror  and  fatigue,  and  had  been 
attacked  with  bleeding  at  the  lungs. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

TOMORROW  ! 


HE  next  morning  sea  and  sky 
were  lovely,  and  the  whole  popu- 
lation of  the  Galileo  was  early  in 
motion  ;  for,  if  the  good  weather 
held,  we  were  to  reach  America 
the  next  evening, — perhaps  early 
enough  to  land  ;  and  it  was  time  to  get  things  ready, 
to  consult  with  friends  and  relatives  as  to  what  was 
to  be  done.  The  most  important  matter  was  regis- 
tering— having  their  names  put  down  for  going 
ashore;  deciding,  that  is  to  say,  whether  or  no  they 
were  to  go  to  the  commissary  and  be  enrolled  as  in- 
tending to  avail  themselves  of  the  Argentine  Govern- 
ment's offer  to  pay  the  expense  of  landing  to  such 
immigrants  as  should  ask  it,  giving  board  and 
lodging  for  five  days  and  a  free  journey  to  those 
who  meant  to  go  up  into  the  interior.  This  act 
of  inscribing  or  not  inscribing  their  names  was 
called  by  the  immigrants  being  or  not  being  "of 

332 


tTo/IDorrow !  333 

the  immigration"  No  doubt  the  advantages  were 
great;  but  they  mistrusted  also  greatly  lest  this 
generosity  on  the  part  of  the  Government,  if  it 
was  a  Government,  should  conceal  a  snare;  and 
that  to  accept  it  would  bind  them  in  some  way 
as  to  their  choice  of  place  to  work  and  condi- 
tions of  contract.  Nevertheless  the  greater  part 
accepted ;  and  there  was  a  continual  procession 
to  the  commissary's  room,  which  was  as  if  turned 
into  an  agency.  They  went  in,  and  after  giving 
their  names,  mangled  the  one  defenceless  word  they 
had  to  say  in  a  hundred  ways  :  Write  me  down  for 
the  emigration. — I  accept  the  immigration. — I  go 
with  the  ^/immigration.— Or  else,  bluntly  and  curtly : 
So  and  so,  migration.  Many,  moreover,  went  there 
without  having  made  up  their  minds — just  as  one 
goes  to  consult  a  lawyer, — and  then  said  no.  The 
women  were  the  most  perplexed.  They  stopped  to 
bethink  themselves  once  more  at  the  very  door, 
scratching  their  foreheads  as  if  the  destiny  of  their 
lives  were  at  stake  ;  and  some,  after  giving  their 
names  and  going  away,  came  back  to  take  them  off 
the  list  again,  saying  they  had  heard  that  the  Govern- 
ment was  treacherous. 

Besides  these,  there  was  a  crowd  of  emigrants 
who  came  to  inquire  about  the  custom-house, 
whether  this  article  or  that  had  to  pay  duty, 
and  whether  by  favor  or  cleverness  they  might 
get  out  of  it.  And  it  was  pitiful  to  hear  what 


334  ©n  JSlue  Mater. 

small  matters  they  all  were ;  poor  little  presents 
they  were  bringing  to  their  friends  and  relatives 
in  America;  a  bottle  of  special  wine,  a  cheese,  a 
sausage,  a  pound  of  cakes  from  Naples  or  Genoa, 
a  quart  or  so  of  oil,  a  box  of  dried  figs,  even  an 
apron  full  of  beans,  but  from  their  own  place,  that 
corner  of  the  garden  which  their  friends  would  be 
sure  to  remember  so  well.  And  they  asked  whether 
a  fife,  or  a  bagpipe,  or  a  blackbird,  or  a  chest  full 
of  old  pots  and  pans  would  be  subject  to  duty. 
They  all  seemed  full  of  terror  at  the  idea  of  the 
custom-house  at  Montevideo  and  at  Buenos  Ayres, 
of  which  they  had  heard  the  most  horrible  tales; 
and  they  spoke  of  it  as  of  an  accursed  forest,  where 

»/  JL 

were  outlaws  who  would  leave  them  but  the  bare 
shirt.  The  most  to  be  pitied  were  the  invalids 
and  some  lonely  old  people  who  feared  that  their 
sickly  look  would  catch  the  eye  of  the  American 
doctor  as  they  went  ashore,  and  they  be  sent  to  the 
lazzaretto.  Others  again  were  tormented  by  the 
dread  lest  their  brothers  or  their  friends  should  not, 
as  promised,  get  on  board  in  time  to  answer  for  their 
subsistence ;  as  the  Argentine  law  allows  no  useless 
mouths  to  land.  They  all  came  to  the  commissary 
to  ask  what  would  happen  to  them  in  such  or  such 
a  case,  and  then  went  out,  sadly  shaking  their 
heads. 

And  still   the  commissary  wrote  and  wrote  ;  and 
saw  pass  before    him,  one  after  another,  the   pro- 


ZIoflDorrow !  335 

testers  of  the  "  Mountain "  whom  he  had  repri- 
manded, the  young  girls  who  had  made  undesired 
love  to  him,  the  mothers  who  had  disgusted  him 
with  their  jealousies,  the  quarrellers  whom  he  had 
had  to  separate  and  punish,  the  impudent  lovers, 
the  mischievous  gossips.  Each  of  these  he  recog- 
nized ;  and  had  a  smile,  a  nod  of  the  head,  or  a  good 
word  for  all  of  them.  As  I  sat  by  his  side  I  was 
never  tired  of  looking  at  that  little  room,  full  of  lists 
and  registers,  and  thinking  over  the  endless  tales  of 
wretchedness,  the  romantic  lies  of  young  damsels, 
the  sobs  of  women,  and  the  fierce  words  of  dis- 
putants he  had  listened  to.  More  than  all,  how- 
ever, the  post-bags,  tied,  sealed,  and  heaped  in  a 
corner,  attracted  me.  For  these  were  snatches  of 
the  great  dialogue  between  the  two  worlds.  Who 
knows  how  many  letters  there  were  here  from 
women  for  the  third  or  fourth  time  beseeching  news 
of  a  son  or  husband  who  had  given  no  sign  for 
years ;  prayers  that  these  would  return  or  send  for 
them ;  supplications  for  aid ;  announcements  of 
sickness  or  death ;  pictures  of  girls  which  their 
fathers  would  not  recognize  ;  despairing  complaints 
addressed  to  faithless  lovers;  shameless  lies  from 
faithless  wives ;  latest  counsels  from  the  old  ; — all 
this,  mingled  with  bankers'  letters  bristling  with 
figures;  amorous  notes  from  ballerinas;  circulars 
from  dealers  in  vermouth ;  bundles  of  newspapers 
for  Italian  colonists  eager  after  news  of  their  coun- 


336  <sm  JSlue  Water. 

try ;  perhaps  the  last  poem  of  Carducci,  or  Verga's 
new  novel ;  a  confusion  of  papers  of  every  color, 
written  with  weeping,  with  laughter,  and  with 
frenzy,  in  hovels,  in  palaces,  in  workshops.  All 
these  sacks  were  to  be  sent  far  and  wide  in  a  few 
days  from  the  mouths  of  the  Plata  to  the  confines 
of  Brazil,  to  the  shores  of  the  Pacific,  to  the  interior 
of  Paraguay  and  up  the  slopes  of  the  Andes  ;  awaken- 
ing joy,  fear,  grief,  remorse,  which,  in  their  turn 
crammed  into  other  sacks,  would  go  back  over  the 
same  journey  ;  and  heaped  up  in  a  little  room,  just 
as  these  that  were  before  me,  would  see  other  poor 
creatures  pass  by  returning  to  the  Old  "World,  less 
poor  perhaps,  but  not  more  happy  than  when  they 
had  left  it  with  hopes  of  better  fortune. 

Meanwhile  the  procession  went  on  :  "  So  and  so, 
under  the  Government." — u  Tizio,  with  the  migra- 
tion."— u  Caio,  landing  and  shelter."  The  unex- 
pected appearance  of  the  Bolognese  here  made  an 
interruption.  She  came  filled  with  fury  at  a  new  and 
mortal  offence  from  a  canaglia  (Vei'boff,  who  passing 
by  and  touching  the  mysterious  pouch  had  said,  in 
evident  allusion  to  the  preposterous  surmise :  "  They 
pay  duty,  I  suppose."  She  wanted  him  on  deck,  in 
irons,  legs  and  arms,  or  she  would  make  declaration 
before  all  the  consuls  in  America,  that  the  ship's 
officers  encouraged  the  most  shameless  clodhoppers 
(lHj<'t<*iri)  in  the  third  class  t<>  insult  well-conducted 
girls.  As  she  was  near  America  she  did  not  speak 


337 


of  her  relatives  in  the  journalism.  The  commissary 
cut  her  short  (la  rim- 
becco}  but  without  losing 
his  temper ;  promised  as 
soon  as  the  inscription 
was  over  he  would  see 
her  righted  ;  and  turned 
short  round  to  a  couple 
of  angry  peasants  who 
came  to  have  their 
names  taken  off  the  list, 
for  they  did  not  want 
to  fall  into  the  hands  of 
those  hangman  thieves 
(boia  de  lade?')  who 
offered  to  land  emigrants 
gratis  so  as  to  be  the 
first  to  plunder  them 
and  make  up  to  their 
women.  They  had  evi- 
dently picked  up  some- 
thing fresh  and  hot  in 
~ 

their  part  of  the  ship, 
where  agitators  were 
working  to  excite  them. 
I  went  forward,  and 
there,  sure  enough,  was 
the  old  fellow  in  the 
green  jacket  haranguing  .<  Ube  big 


338 


©n  3Blue  Mater, 


away  to  a  larger  audience  than  usual ;  and  leaning, 
from  political   sympathy,  perhaps,  on   the  anchor, 

which   was   painted    red, 
and  shaking  his  loose  gray 
locks.      The   short    work 
which  the  captain  had 
made  of  the 
Forty- 


"  twranguing  awa?  to  a  larger  airtfence  than  usual." 

seven  Protest  had  not  intimidated  him  in  the  least, 
and  he  had  threatened  to  write  to  the  papers.  His 
nearness  to  the  land  of  liberty  emboldened  him  all 


!  339 

tbe  more,  and  not  only  did  he  not  lower  his  voice 
when  one  of  those  suckers  of  the  people's  blood 
passed  by,  but  rather  raised  it,  rude  and  harsh  as  it 
was,  like  the  sound  of  a  tin  horn,  while  the  veins  of 
the  neck  swelled  fit  to  burst  the  skin.  He  spoke  as 
if  he  were  not  making  the  voyage  for  the  first  time ; 
said  they  must  look  out  for  the  Argentines,  the 
Italian  agents,  the  consuls,  the  go-betweens  of  every 
color,  who  were  all  in  swindling  league  together  to 
get  fat  out  of  the  immigration.  They  were  to  look 
after  their  things  as  they  went  ashore,  or  they  would 
be  robbed  outright ;  they  were  to  have  an  eye  to 
their  wives  and  daughters.  Dreadful  things  had 
been  done  by  the  government  people  in  the  face  of 
day  before  the  very  eyes  of  fathers  and  mothers. 
And  as  for  shelter,  tumble-down  sheds ;  the  rain 
came  through  the  roof  on  to  the  beds ;  there  was 
either  nothing  to  eat  or  else  they  put  something 
into  the  soup  which  made  a  man  too  stupid  to  put 
two  and  two  together,  and  then  the  rascals  came 
and  made  a  contract  with  him.  "  Look  out,figliuoli" 
he  shouted ;  "  Look  to  it  or  you  will  be  skinned 
[assassinati]  worse  than  in  the  old  country.  He  is 
a  gone  man  that  trusts  them  !  " 

But  he  was  not  the  only  one  to  hold  forth.  Other 
groups  here  and  there  were  hanging  on  the  words  of 
other  orators  who  had  started  up  that  morning.  On 
the  midship-deck  was  the  professor  ex-cook,  the 
player  on  the  ocarina.  He  had  been  everywhere 


340  <S>n  Blue  Mater. 

and  done  everything,  had  advice  to  give  to  every- 
body into  whatever  part  of  America  they  were 
going,  just  as  if  he  had  lived  there  many  years,  and 
had  plied  every  trade  in  every  quarter  of  the  globe. 
He  spoke  of  the  snares  laid  for  emigrants  when  they 
had  a  little  money ;  lands,  far-away  lands  sold  for  a 
song,  fertile,  well  watered,  where  they  were  to  be- 
come rich  in  ten  years'  time ;  and  the  poor  gulls, 
when  they  reached  the  spot  with  empty  pockets, 
found  sandy  deserts,  fever  in  the  air,  the  Indians  all 
around  them,  lions  on  the  prowl  by  night,  and  ser- 
pents five  yards  long  crawling  through  the  houses. 
And  fleeing  from  starvation  they  had  to  go  afoot 
hundreds  of  miles  before  finding  a  habitable  spot, 
drenched  with  rain  for  weeks  at  a  time,  or  scourged 
with  hideous  gales,  which  swept  away  cows  and 
dogs  like  dried  leaves.  At  this  many  of  his  hearers 
suspected  some  exaggeration,  shrugged  their  shoul- 
ders and  went  away  ;  while  many  more  swallowed  it 
all  and  stood  there  with  their  eyes  upon  the  deck. 
But  in  other  groups  the  optimists  had  the  floor.  A 
new  world — no  more  taxes — no  more  military  ser- 
vice— no  more  tyranny.  The  soil  teemed  as  soon  as 
touched  by  the  plough  ;  meat  at  fifty  centimes  the 
kilogramme  (five  cents  the  pound)  ;  tracts  with  four 
thousand  inhabitants  where  the  sour  face  of  a  signore 
was  never  seen.  And  they  told  of  quick  fortunes, 
overflowing  granaries  ;  of  field  laborers  who  had 
private  tutors  for  their  children.  America  forever ! 


Sangue  cTun  cane!  Will  you  hold  your  tongues, 
you  calamity  howlers  ! 

In  the  uiidst  of  all  this  preoccupation  it  was  evi- 
dent that  immortal  woman  had  taken,  for  the  present, 
a  back  seat, — that  many  attachments  would  have  to 
be  thrown  over.  No  more  were  seen  those  steady 
eyes  that  watched  the  fair  one  hour  by  hour  for  the 
chance  of  putting  a  word  in  her  ear  or  a  black  and 
blue  mark  on  her  arm.  But  this  very  preoccupa- 
tion left  the  few  faithful  ones  only  the  more  free. 
Amongst  these  last  I  marked  the  poor  Modenese 
bookkeeper  who  had  gone  back  to  his  old  contem- 
plation, a  little  farther  off  than  before  but  more  dead 
in  love  than  ever;  as  if  the  rough  handling  he  had 
received,  the  boxed  ears  and  the  disgrace  he  had 
suffered, — poor  wretch, — had  only  enhanced  the  love- 
liness of  her  for  whom  he  had  gone  through  so  much. 

o  O 

I  looked  at  him  from  the  bridge  for  a  long  time. 
He  never  moved  his  head  or  bent  his  neck  or  turned 
his  eyes  for  a  single  instant  from  the  girl.  She  was 
in  her  usual  place,  knitting,  with  her  little  brother 
at  her  side,  her  fair  form  more  upright,  sweet,  and 
fresh  than  ever.  Her  face,  clouded  for  many  days, 
was  placid  again ;  and  I  was  not  long  in  perceiving 
that  all  this  lowly  and  unwearied  adoration  from 
the  poor,  lonely,  scorned  young  fellow  had  awakened 
a  sisterly  feeling  of  pity  and  kindness  which  perhaps 
she  thought  it  was  due  to  him  to  let  him  perceive ; 
for  as  I  was  on  the  point  of  moving  away  I  saw  her 


342  ©n  Blue  Mater, 

usual  quiet,  indifferent  look  as  she  cast  it  around  her, 
fixed  for  an  instant,  perhaps  not  for  the  first  time, 
upon  his  face  with  a  lovely  expression  of  kindness 
and  sympathy.  Ah  !  Ye  Gods  !  The  fellow  lighted 
up  like  a  mirror  when  the  sun  falls  upon  it ;  he 
shook  all  over,  he  heaved  a  sigh  and  passed  a  hand 
over  his  forehead  as  if  astounded  that  the  whole 
ship  should  not  be  aware  of  the  wonder  that  had 
come  to  pass. 

But  no  one  took  any  heed.  And  this  general  pre- 
occupation gave  me  the  chance  to  move  about  freely 
for  a  while  among  the  crowd  and  catch,  flying,  many 
a  bit  of  talk.  The  expectation  of  landing  soon  had 
aroused  in  almost  all  of  them  some  curiosity  about 
the  cities  and  the  regions  they  were  to  live  in. 
They  asked  the  officers  about  them, — or  the  more 
educated  of  their  fellow-passengers  ;  pulling  out  old 
creased  letters  from  their  kinsfolk  and  acquaintance, 
gesticulating  over  them,  re-reading  them  or  handing 
them  about  with  that  extraordinary  reverence  which 
your  illiterate  always  shows  for  a  written  docu- 
ment, which  he  supposes,  and  naturally  enough, 
capable  of  various  subtle  interpretations.  I  heard 
mention  made  of  many  farm  colonies  with  names 
dear  to  my  soul, — Esperauza,  Filar,  Cavour,  Garibaldi, 
New  Turin,  Candelaria. 

But,  gracious  Heaven  !  what  it  was  to  see  the  dense 
ignorance  in  which  they  almost  all  were  plunged ; 
their  utter  lack  of  any  ideas  about  States  or  bound- 


343 

aries,  as  if  South  America  were  an  island  a  hundred 
miles  or  so  in  circuit,  where  the  provinces  were 
within  gunshot  of  one  another — Buenos  Ayres, 
Tucuman,  Mendoza,  Assumption,  Montevideo, 
E ntre  Rios,  Chili,  the  United  States, — all  forming  in 
the  niinds  of  the  greater  part  an  inextricable  mass 
of  confusion  ;  so  that  the  keenest  and  most  patient 
man  in  the  world  would  have  been  at  a  loss  where  to 
begin  to  get  order  out  of  the  chaos,  or  throw  light  on 
any  part  of  it.  And  to  think  that  many  even  of  the 
youngest  had  been  to  school  and  had  learned  to 
read  and  write  !  It  was  hopeless.  Here  and  there 
little  family  groups  were  discussing  ways  and  means : 
"  So,  five  for  the  landing,  three  for  the  inn ;  we  '11 
say  so  much  for  the  first  day."  Farther  on  :  Vapu- 
rino  pe  Rmario,  quatto  pezz'  e  ineza — mi  muorz"1  e 
pane pe1  u  viaggio  ;  restano  cuiclie  ducate,  senza  cunta 
e  scarpe  pe  Ciccillo.  "  The  tender  up  to  Rosario, 
four  dollars  and  a  half — and  a  mouthful  to  eat  on 
the  way ;  there  '11  be  five  ducats  over  without 
counting  little  Dicky's  shoes." 

I  heard  among  other  things  that  there  was  bad  news 
of  the  young  lady  from  Mestre,  upon  whom  nearly 
all  of  them  were  depending  for  advice  and  patronage. 
They  seemed  to  think  she  had  had  a  fall ;  and  even 
supposed  she  might  be  dying,  but  that  it  was  kept 
secret  because  the  captain  was  somehow  (they  had 
not  the  slightest  idea  how)  in  fault.  The  Mestre 
peasant  anxiously  inquired  about  her.  All  his  family 


344  ©n  Blue  Mater. 

were  once  more  crouched  in  the  old  nest  between 
the  turkey  pens  and  the  great  hogshead,  under  an 
awning  of  diapers  put  out  to  dry,  beneath  whose 
shade  young  Galileo,  red  as  a  boiled  lobster,  was 
having  his  little  dinner  like  a  calf.  "  Ah, povareta  !  " 
cried  the  peasant,  u  that  such  a  thing  should  happen 
to  an  angel  like  that !  She  is  too  good,  she  cannot 
live  long ! "  And  the  wife  added :  "  Tell  her  that 
we  will  pray  to  our  saint  for  her,  God  bless  her  !  " 

The  father  was  going  to  trust  the  Government; 
had  put  his  name  down  for  the  amigmzion,  he  was 
not  going  to  believe  all  the  clown's  chatter  (panta- 
lonae)  which  those  idiots  on  the  forecastle  got  off. 
Then  he  asked  me  if  it  were  really  true,  what  the 
ex-cook,  the  wiseacre  of  the  midship-deck,  had  told 
them,  that  from  the  equator  on,  the  water  was  fit  to 
drink  (la  gera  bona  da  beva/'J,  because  the  great 
American  river  drove  back  the  waves  of  the  sea. 
But  he  interrupted  himself  to  exclaim :  "  Here  are 
our  new  (paroni)  masters  !  "  It  was  the  five  Argen- 
tines in  company  with  the  Neapolitan  priest,  who 
came  forward  for  the  first  time  to  have  a  look  at 
their  guests.  The  priest  must  have  been  discus- 
sing some  financial  matter;  for  he  said  loudly, 
moving  his  hand  like  a  fan  :  "  Si  se  encontmran  los 
accionistas para  un  gi-an  banco  agricola-colonizador" 
And  I  joined  them,  urged  by  a  stronger  sympathy 
in  those  last  days  for  the  children  of  the  land  where 
so  many  of  my  fellow-citizens  were  to  have  their  lot 


Uo/lfcorrow !  345 

in  life.  And  I  searched  their  faces  to  find  what 
impression  was  made ;  but  they  looked  on  and  said 
nothing.  Nevertheless,  their  eyes  and  their  every 
movement  betrayed  the  proud  satisfaction  they  felt 
at  seeing  all  those  people  who  were  come  to  seek 
hospitality  in  their  country,  the  greater  part  for  life, 
and  whose  children  would  grow  up  citizens  of  the 
republic,  would  speak  its  language  and  not  their 
own,  and  would  perhaps  be,  as  often  happens, 
ashamed  of  their  foreign  origin. 

Perhaps  in  looking  at  the  emigrants  the  gentle- 
men saw  in  imagination  all  these  clodhoppers 
( mangiatori  di  terra)  and  Ligurian  traffickers  at 
work,  beheld  loaded  barks  glide  down  the  waters 
of  the  Parana  and  the  Uruguay,  and  saw  the  new 
railways  of  the  tropics  stretch  across  the  forest,  the 
sugar-cane  rise  on  the  plains  of  Tucuman,  the  vine 
upon  the  slopes  of  Mendoza,  the  tobacco  plant  upon 
the  Gran  Chaco, — saw  houses  and  palaces  rise  by 
hundreds  and  by  thousands,  and  leagues  upon 
leagues  of  desert  glow  and  blossom  under  the  sweat- 
rain  of  their  hard  toil.  There  came  surging  into  my 
mind  so  many  things  to  say  to  them :  "  You  will  re- 
ceive all  these  people  kindly  will  you  not  ?  They  are 
hardy  volunteers  who  have  come  to  swell  the  ranks 
of  that  army  with  which  you  are  conquering  a 
world.  They  are  worthy  men,  believe  me  ;  they  are 
industrious,  as  you  will  see ;  they  are  sober,  they  are 
patient,  they  do  not  emigrate  to  get  rich,  but  to  find 


346  <§>n  Blue  Mater. 

bread  for  their  children,  and  will  easily  grow  fond  of 
the  country  that  feeds  them.  They  are  poor,  but 
not  because  they  have  not  worked ;  they  are  un- 
taught, but  not  from  any  fault  of  theirs ;  proud  of 
their  country,  but  it  is  because  they  have  a  vague 
sense  of  its  bygone  glory ;  sometimes  they  are 
quick  in  quarrel,  but  you,  descendants  of  the  con- 
querors of  Mexico  and  Peru,  are  you  not  also  some- 
times quick  in  quarrel  ?  Let  them  love  and  boast  of 
their  far-off  country,  for  if  they  could  have  the  heart 
to  be  false  to  its  memory  they  could  not  become 
attached  to  your  soil.  Protect  them  from  dishonest 
middlemen,  do  them  justice  when  they  require  it, 
and  do  not  make  them  feel,  poor  creatures,  that 
they  are  tolerated  intruders.  Treat  them  gently 
and  kindly.  We  shall  all  be  so  thankful  to  you 
for  it.  They  are  our  blood ;  we  love  them.  Into 
your  hands  we  commend  them  and  with  all  our 
hearts  ! " 

I  do  not  know  what  stupid — and  worse  than 
stupid,  cowardly — reserve  it  was  that  held  me  back 
from  saying  all  this.  They  would  have  listened 
with  amazement,  no  doubt,  but  they  might  have 
been  moved  ;  perhaps  not  without  being  a  little 
softened.  The  sea  was  so  lovely.  It  seemed  as  if 
it  ought  to  be  reflected  in  every  bosom.  Since  morn- 
ing many  sailing  ships  and  steamers  had  been  seen 
bound  for  the  Plata  lliver,  and  flights  of  birds  had 

O 

come  around  the  Galileo  to  bid  her  welcome. 


347 

As  soon  as  the  bustle  of  inscription  was  over,  every- 
thing had  quieted  down  and  people  were  inclined  to 
be  good-natured.  Some  emigrants,  who  had  got 
leave  to  come  into  the  after-cabin  to  get  up  a  raffle 
for  a  silver  watch  and  an  engraving  of  the  Madonna, 
on  behalf  of  a  poor  family,  were  very  successful  in- 
deed at  sixty  centimes  the  ticket.  The  drawing,  as 
the  prospectus  set  forth,  was  to  take  place  on  the 
morrow,  "  with  the  necessary  guarantees,"  behind 
the  butcher's  shop.  Not  a  quarrel  arose  after  dinner. 
The  emigrants  were  treated  to  a  dish  of  braciole 
and  potatoes  (Irish  stew)  that  softened  many  a 
heart.  Our  repast  too  was  such  as  to  make  the 
single  eye  of  the  Genoese  gleam  with  satisfaction, 
and  had  an  additional  flavor  from  the  idea  of  that 
"something  to  follow"  which  Brillat-Savarin  says 
is  necessary  to  the  perfect  success  of  a  dinner.  This 
"something"  was  the  thought  of  what  the  ship 
would  look  like  on  the  morrow  when  the  land  hove 
in  sight. 

The  talk,  under  the  attraction  of  America,  all  ran 
upon  the  countries  we  were  approaching,  as  if  we  had 
been  there  before.  In  three  days  we  shoidd  hear 
Polyeucte  at  the  Colon  Theatre ;  and  at  the  Solis, 
Crespino  e  la  Comare  with  Baldelli.  The  plan  of 
the  new  Square  at  Buenos  Ayres  and  that  of  the 
new  Italian  Hospital  at  Montevideo  were  discussed. 
The  presidents  of  the  two  republics  were  dissected 
joint  by  joint,  and  many  heated  comments  made  upon 


348  ©n  Blue  Mater. 

those  newspapers  which  were  opposed  to  or  in  favor 
of  Italian  immigration.  The  Garibaldian  alone  said 
nothing,  and  the  veil  of  sadness  on  his  face  was  deeper 
than  usual.  My  two  next-door  neighbors  were  silent 
too,  but  on  their  faces  there  was  an  unusual  expres- 
sion; the  look  of  hate,  of  course, — but  now  animated 
by  a  new  thought,  the  expectation  of  something  to 
happen,  which  each  hoped  would  decide  their  contest 
unfavorably  to  the  other.  They  did  not  look  at  one 
another,  but  there  seemed  to  be  a  grim,  silent  fight 
between  the  two,  as  if  they  were  secretly  stabbing 
one  another  beneath  the  table-cloth.  They  both 
reached  out  at  once  for  the  salt,  but  perceiving  in 
time  that  their  hands  would  touch,  drew  back  and 
took  no  salt.  The  mere  thought  that  I  was  soon  to 
reach  America  and  have  that  miserable  spectacle 
before  my  eyes  no  longer,  was  enough  to  cheer  me. 
Suddenly  I  remarked  that  the  lady  of  the  Char- 
treuse and  the  mother  of  the  piano-player  were 
missing ;  and  as  I  could  not  suppose  they  were  sea- 
sick at  that  late  day,  I  asked  the  agent,  who  was 
between  me  and  the  advocate,  what  the  matter  was. 
"  What !  You  don't  know  !  You  are  in  America 
already  one  would  think  !  A  regular  scene  ! "  For 
some  days  the  "  tamer"  had  had  hints  that  the 
other  was  speaking  ill  of  her  and  had  shrewd  notions 
what  it  was  about.  She  had  seen  it  in  the  faces  of 
some  of  the  passengers,  who  would  look  at  her  and 
smile,  at  certain  hours,  and  would  peep  into  her 


tlo/IDorrow !  349 

stateroom  as  they  passed.  That  morning,  however, 
her  maid,  set  on  to  watch  had  found  out  all  about 
it.  Our  serpent  in  petticoats  had  declared  she  was 
getting  delirium  tremens ;  was  giving  horrid  accounts 
of  her  stateroom,  where  indeed  she  had  been  several 
times  to  taste  her  Maraschino  di  Zara,  and  was 
saying  that  it  was  a  perfect  liquor  shop,  with  bottles 
under  the  pillows,  sticky  glasses  all  over  every  where, 
and  a  large  collection  of  all  sorts  of  mineral  waters 
powders,  and  pastilles,  to  repair  in  the  morning  the 
damage  done  by  drinking  overnight.  But  now  she 
said  it  was  no  use  trying  to  repair  it ;  the  thing  had 
gone  too  far,  and  the  doctor  had  remarked  that  the 
gentlemen  had  better  not  go  too  near  her  with  their 
lighted  cigars.  The  fat  lady  had  heard  all  this 
exactly  at  the  moment  when  she  had  been  having  a 
fresh  nip,had  gone  straight  to  the  dear  creature's  state- 
room, and,  meeting  her  in  the  corridor  when  two  or 
three  people  were  by,  had  said  in  an  uncommonly 
distinct  voice  three  words  to  her — not  more  than 
three, — but  spoken  with  the  look  and  tone  of  her 
profession,  and  of  that  kind  which  good  old,  mellow 
Chartreuse,  the  true  authentic  article  made  by  the 
well-deserving  Friars,  and  taken  in  suitable  doses,  is 
alone  capable  of  inspiring.  The  other,  undaunted, 
had  answered  with  a  single  word  of  three  syllables 
(one  in  English),  worth  her  adversary's  three  to- 
gether. Then — but  then  the  stewardesses  ran  up, 
and  the  contestants  in  a  paroxysm  of  rage  had  retired, 


35°  ©n  Blue  Mater, 

storming,  each  to  her  own  stateroom,  where  half  an 
hour  afterwards  they  fainted. 

But  as  he  said  this  the  agent  suddenly  bethought 
himself  and  seemed  to  be  trying  to  intercept  glances 
between  two  persons  at  the  table  who  were  at  a 
distance  from  him.  And,  sure  enough,  I  heard  him 
the  next  moment  singing  to  himself  Hamlet's  long  cry 
in  the  little  Theatre  of  the  Palace  (sic)  :  "  O-o-o-o-h  ! 
my  prophetic  soul !  "  Straightway  he  seized  my  arm 
and  confided  to  me  his  amazing  discovery.  "  Look  ! " 
he  said,  "  but  don't  let  them  see  you  doing  it."  And 

I  did  look  and  was  not  lonsj  in  seeing  what  he  meant. 

~  ~ 

Every  two  or  three  minutes  the  fair,  blue,  vacant 
eyes  of  the  blonde  lady  would  rest  for  an  instant  on 
the  captain  ;  and  his  hard  red  countenance  would 
gleam  for  an  instant  with  a  smile  half  concealed  by 
his  bushy  eyebrows  and  bristling  mustaches,  like 
a  bit  of  blue  that  shows  through  a  rift  in  the 

O 

clouds,  and  then  is  covered  ;  but  the  blue  eyes 
looked  again,  and  the  rift  appeared  again.  Not  a 
doubt  about  it,  the  little  game  went  on  regularly  ; 
there  was  an  understanding  between  the  fair  blonde 
crown  and  the  rough  red  poll.  The  siren  had  sung, 
the  rugged  bear  had  listened ;  the  Galileo  was 
brought  to.  "  Ah !  now  I  understand,"  said  the 
agent,  in  a  rage,  "  why  there  was  no  l  scene  ' — Ah  ! 
Porcaie  a  bordo  no  ne  veuggio,  forsooth  !  U 'gh  !  You 
old  sea  Tartuffe !  This  is  too  much  ! "  All  the  same 
he  was  not  ill  pleased  at  being  relieved  from  the  in- 


UoflDocrow!  35 1 

cubus  of  an  unsolved  mystery.  And  as  we  went  on 
deck  he  rubbed  his  hands.  "  One  more — Now  what 
we  have  to  do  is  to  find  out  whom  yonder  young 
lady  will  next  snip  with  her  scissors, — if  indeed 
there  be  another  to  snip." 

So  he  and  the  others  laughed  with  all  their  might 
as  they  nodded  and  looked  at  the  round  back  of  the 
professor,  who  leaned  over  the  rail  and  discoursed 
with  the  Neapolitan  priest  about  the  constellation 
of  Orion.  It  was  a  charming  night  and  a  smiling 
augury  of  a  good  end  to  the  voyage.  To  the  west, 
among  myriads  of  stars,  arose  the  zodiacal  light,  in 
form  of  a  huge  whitish  pyramid,  the  apex  almost 
reaching  the  zenith  and  the  circuit  embracing  a 

O  O 

quarter  of  the  horizon.  The  track  of  the  Milky 
Way,  between  the  Scorpion  and  the  Centaur,  and 
the  four  flaming  diamonds  of  the  Southern  Cross, 
stood  out  clear  and  vivid.  The  Magellan  Clouds, 
those  vast,  solitary  nebulae  which  made  the  heart  of 
Huniboldt  beat  and  his  pen  blaze,  formed  around 
the  Southern  Pole  two  wondrous  white  spots,  which 
shaded  off  into  the  infinite.  Falling  stars,  seeming 
larger  than  with  us,  from  the  pure  atmosphere,  were 
seen  on  every  side  like  shooting  rockets  which 
streaked  the  sky  with  silvery  red  and  blue  and 
golden  light.  So  clear  was  the  sky,  that  the  ship 
with  every  black  spar  and  shroud  and  rope  was 
sharply  drawn  upon  it ;  and,  looking  from  the  piaz- 
zetta,  there  were  stars  among  the  yards,  the  lifts, 


352  ©n  Blue  Mater. 

the  braces,  and  stars  reflected  by  the  glassy  sea;  so 
that  we  seemed  to  move  along  in  an  airy  bark  amid 
the  splendors  of  the  firmament.  Yet  scarcely  any 
one  looked  at  all  this.  Each  of  those  seventeen 
hundred  living  atoms  had  some  hope  or  fear  or  re- 
gret within  him,  compared  with  which  these  mil- 
lions of  worlds  were  of  no  more  importance  than  the 
dust  which  his  foot  strikes  out  of  the  earth. 

In  the  forward  part  of  the  ship  there  was  indeed 
a  busy  hum  of  conversation,  but  more  steady  and 
intense  than  on  other  evenings.  No  singing,  no 
shouting.  It  was  clear  that  all  were  talking  of 
serious  matters.  At  the  moment  of  separation  be- 
tween the  men  and  the  women  there  could  be 
heard  many  a  "  Good-night !  "  full  of  meaning  and 
"  To-morrow,  then  !  "  in  a  hundred  rino-in^  tones.  "  It 

O         O 

is  the  last  night !  We  land  to-morrow  !  Twenty- 
four  hours  and  we  are  in  America  !"  And  even  when 
they  had  been  below  some  time  there  floated 
up  through  the  hatches  a  sonorous  murmur  as  of 
an  excited  crowd.  It  was  the  tide  made  in  a  sea  of 
souls  by  a  world  as  they  drew  near  to  it. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 


AMERICA. 

HAT  a  pleasant  awakening  !  Those 
words !  "  To-day  we  shall  be  on 
shore,"  which  expressed  the  sen- 
timents of  everyone,  had  a  fresh 
sound  and  renewed  power  for  us 

all.     And  one  felt,  in  saying  them 

over,  the  physical  pleasure  which  is  had  in  throwing 
the  arms  around  a  good  solid  granite  column.  With- 
out taking  other  reasons  into  account,  we  were  most 
anxious  to  get  on  shore,  because  in  a  long  voyage  a 
man  grows  tired,  exasperated  beyond  endurance  at 
that  perpetual  reeling  and  staggering,  that  bending 
and  dodging  to  which  he  is  forced  by  the  motion  of 
the  ship  and  the  narrowness  of  everything ;  that  con- 
tinual salt  smell,  that  constant  odor  of  wood  and  of 
tar.  What  pleasure  to  see  the  streets,  to  snuff  the 
country  air,  to  sleep  between  four  walls  that  stay 
upright  and  not  feel  that  the  house  we  are  in  is  thrill- 
ing with  a  special  life  and  one  on  which  after  all 

23  353 


354  <§>n  Blue  Mater. 

our  own  depends.  It  did  so  happen  that  we  passed 
the  Canaries  and  the  Cape  Verdes  at  night ;  and  for 
the  same  reason  we  had  missed  the  little  Brazilian 
island  of  Fernando  de  Norouha,  which  everyone  had 
longed  to  get  a  glimpse  of,  so  as  to  break  for  a  mo- 
ment the  interminable  monotony  of  the  sea.  Not  a 
hand's  breadth  of  land  for  eighteen  days  since  we 
passed  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar.  I  should  have  liked 
to  hold  a  clod  of  earth  in  my  fingers  for  the  pleasure 
of  feeling  it  and  smelling  it,  like  forbidden  fruit. 
And  at  last,  at  last,  we  were  to  have  enough  of  it : 
a  couple  of  pear-shaped  pieces,  namely,  covering  to- 
gether thirty-eight  millions  of  square  kilometres,  and 
each  equal  to  about  seventy  Italics. 

As  we  expected  to  reach  Montevideo  by  daylight, 
there  began  at  dawn  of  day  among  the  emigrants 
a  general  scrubbing,  hasty  and  unsparing,  for  they 
desired  not  to  compromise  the  national  honor  by 
making  their  appearance  in  America  as  savage  and 
slovenly  beggars.  Fresh  water  was  served  out  freely, 
since  it  was  the  last  day ;  and  they  began  to  wash 
furiously",  like  so  many  coal  miners  just  come  up. 
There  was  a  plunging  of  heads  into  basins  and  a 
puffing  and  a  sluicing  and  a  splashing ;  while  the 
water  ran  about  the  decks  as  if  it  rained.  Many 
were  dragging  combs  through  capillary  forests,  virgin 
since  Genoa;  others,  barefooted,  were  polishing  up 
their  shoes  with  moistened  rags.  They  overhauled 
their  creased  and  threadbare  clothes,they  brushed  and 


Hmerica.  355 

they  beat  them.  The  Venetian  barber,  imitator  of 
dogs,  had  set  up  an  open-air  shop  near  the  bulwark 
on  the  port  side,  where  the  to-be-shaved  ones,  seated 
in  long  rows  like  Turks  at  Constantinople,  awaited 
each  his  turn,  scraping  their  cheeks  with  both  hands 
and  chaffing  one  another.  Arms  and  shoulders  of 
naked  babies,  and  of  women  in  their  petticoats 
gleamed  by  hundreds  everywhere.  Some  brushed 
each  other's  hair  and  thinned  out  the  too  flourishing 
population  of  the  boys'  heads.  Others  hastily 
patched  and  darned  their  jackets  and  their  stockings, 
pulling  over  tattered  old  bags  and  valises  for  fresh 
clothes  and  linen.  Joyful  anticipation  had  reawak- 
ened cordiality  ;  families  helped  one  another  with 
little  services  and  spoke  their  mutual  thanks  loudly 
and  heartily.  A  thrill  of  young  life  was  awakened 
everywhere.  And  above  the  lively  murmur  of  the 
throng  was  heard  from  time  to  time  the  cry  "  Viva  1' 
America  ! "  or  the  high  shrill  falsetto  with  which  the 
people  of  North  Italy  finish  the  verses  of  a  song. 
At  breakfast,  enlivened  by  the  notes  of  fife  and  bag- 
pipe (piffero,  za/mpogna),  a  special  ration  of  biscuit 
was  served  out.  Everyone  filled  his  pockets,  and 
the  canteen  man  poured  out  endless  glasses  of  ruin, 
like  a  regimental  sutler  on  the  day  of  battle.  After 
all  which  the  passengers  sat  down  quietly  or  leaned 
over  the  rail,  awaiting  the  appearance  of  the  New 
World. 

But  the  hours  went  by  and  the  land  did  not  heave 


356  ©n  Blue  Mater. 

in  sight.  The  sky  was  covered  with  clouds,  but  the 
horizon  was  clear,  and  the  sharp  blue  sea  line  was 
unbroken  by  a  shade  of  promise.  After  eight  bells, 
the  passengers  began  to  show  symptoms  of  weariness. 
They  that  had  so  much  patience  for  three  weeks 
had  hardly  a  crumb  left  for  the  last  few  hours. 
Many  complained  angrily  :  "  Why  did  we  not  see 
land  ?  Was  the  reckoning  wrong  ?  We  should  have 
seen  it  long  ago.  Now  we  shall  not  get  there  by 
daylight.  The  Lord  knows  when  we  shall  get  there. 
Italian  steamers  !  There  's  the  whole  story.  Lucky 
if  we  get  there  in  a  year."  And  they  glowered  and 
made  cutting  remarks  when  an  officer  passed  by. 
Some,  too,  feigning  to  give  up  all  hope  of  getting 
there,  shrugged  their  shoulders,  turned  away  from 
the  sea,  and  pretended  to  busy  themselves  with  some- 
thing else.  But,  all  the  same,  every  time  the  signal 
officer  who  had  charge  of  the  watch  looked  through 
his  glass,  as  he  stood  on  the  bridge,  they  fixed  their 
eyes  on  him  in  breathless  silence,  and  not  a  murmur 
was  heard  until  the  careless  air  with  which  he 
lowered  his  instrument  destroyed  hope.  But  he 
did  not  move  from  his  post,  which  showed  that  he 
expected  every  moment  to  catch  sight  of  something. 
The  peasant  with  the  abbreviated  nose,  bent  on 
being  the  first  to  announce  America,  stood  halfway 
up  the  ladder,  ready  to  catch  the  first  indication  from 
the  officer  and  cry  out ;  and  every  time  the  glass  was 
levelled  he  gave  the  crowd  a  majestically  comic  sign 


Bmerica. 


357 


for  silence,  like  a  tribune  of  the  people  at  a  moment 
of  crisis. 

Among  us  also  in  the  after  part  of  the  ship  there 
was  expectation.     The  ladies  were  seated  facing  the 
west,  the  men  were 
strung    about    the 

O 

poop  much  excited. 
The  young  lady 
from  Mestre  was  in 
her  usual  place,  be- 
tween the  Garibal- 
dian  and  her  aunt, 
paler  in  face  and 
feebler  in  look  than 
ever  before,  but  not 
more  sad ;  indeed 
her  eyes  were 
brighter  than  we 
had  yet  seen  them, 
and  in  her  counte- 
nance there  was  a 
wondrous  sweet-  Ubc  &*n*1  ®fficer- 

ness,  as  if  a  fresh  beauty  had  come  there  since  her 
attack  of  bleeding.  For  the  first  time  she  was 

O 

all  in  black,  and  the  translucent  clearness  of  her 
complexion  was  set  off  so  strikingly  by  the  dress 
she  wore  that  it  was  like  the  sight  of  a  living  face 

O  O 

under  a  sable  pall.  She,  with  her  aunt,  appeared 
to  be  delicately  folding  up  little  packets  of  some- 


358  ©n  JBlue  Mater. 

thing  upon  her  lap.  There  also  were  the  mother 
of  the  piano-player,  and  the  plump  lady,  seated  on 
the  opposite  side  of  the  deck ;  the  former  with  an 
hysterical  face  showed  fine  white  teeth  and  looked 
more  venomous  than  ever ;  the  latter  with  her  great 
round  countenance,  seemed  steeped  in  alcoholic  beati- 
tude, and  thought,  as  it  would  seem,  of  nothing  at 
all.  The  other  ladies,  sitting  about  in  their  light 
dresses,  made  masses  of  brilliant  color,  like  a  row  of 
flags  hung  out  on  a  holiday.  But  here  too  there 
were  signs  of  impatience.  Little  feet  patted  the 
deck ;  hands  switched  fans  about  with  nervous 
abruptness;  heads  were  tossed;  the  conversation 
took  a  bilious  turn,  and  though  they  did  not  utter 
the  cross  nonsense  that  the  third-class  people  did 
about  the  officers,  it  was  in  the  minds  and  flashed 
from  the  eyes  of  all  of  them. 

But  now  the  young  lady  rose,  leaning  on  her  aunt's 
arm,  and  the  two,  with  their  little  parcels,  went 
towards  the  third  class.  On  the  piazzetta  they  were 
joined  by  the  Venetian  servant,  who  was  waiting 
for  them  with  other  matters  in  her  hands.  As  this 
was  to  be  the  lady's  last  visit  to  the  forward  part  of 
the  ship  I  was  anxious  to  see  what  she  did ;  so  I 
ran  through  the  second-class  gangway  and  gained 
the  biidge. 

She  had  probably  chosen  that  time  so  as  to  be 
less  observed,  the  attention  of  all  the  passengers  being 
fixed  upon  the  horizon.  From  the  bridge  I  could 


Hmerica.  359 

follow  all  her  movements  in  that  crowd  of  people, 
and  was  amazed  to  see  how  many  she  knew  and  how 
much  good  she  had  done  in  those  few  days.  She 
gave  the  poor  peasant,  ill  of  fever,  and  his  wife,  the 
fruit  she  had  got  together;  gave  clothes  to  another 
family  near  the  foremast ;  to  another  she  gave  letters 
and  papers.  Then  she  approached  the  Genoese  girl, 
and  though  I  could  not  see  well  for  the  crowds 
around,  I  thought  she  slipped  a  ring  on  the  girl's 
finger.  The  boys  gathered  around  her  from  every 
side  ;  some  of  the  smallest  followed  her  about,  and 
she  patted  their  cheeks  with  one  hand  and  gave 
them  sweetmeats  with  the  other.  She  went  to 
speak  with  the  family  from  Mestre  and  kissed  young 
Galileo.  Several  men  came  up  to  her,  hat  in  hand, 
and  seemed  to  ask  advice.  Here  and  there  she  shook 
hands  as  if  to  take  leave.  Her  white  face  and  faded 
hair  would  be  lost  for  an  instant  in  the  throng  and 
then  appear  again.  She  passed  within  the  forecastle, 
then  came  out  once  more  at  the  canteen,  went  down 
to  the  sick  bay,  and  I  saw  her  next  by  the  capstan, 
in  midst  of  a  group  of  women  who  thrust  out  their 
little  babies  for  her  to  touch.  Wherever  she  went, 
grinning  faces  were  composed,  loud  voices  lowered  ; 
all  moved  out  of  the  way  and  faced  round  towards 
her.  Her  face  showed  mortal  weariness,  but  wore 
throughout  the  same  sweet  smile,  while  a  faint 

o  / 

tremor  in  her  pale  lips  and  filmy  eyes,  where  all  her 
life  seemed  centred,  was  like  the  last  gleam  of  the 


360  ©n  Blue  TIQater. 

sun  upon  a  fair  white  rose  already  declining  to  the 
earth.  When  she  reached  the  covered  way  to  go  aft 
again,  she  stopped  and  panted  with  a  hand  upon 
her  breast.  The  peasant  woman  from  Mestre  came 
up  at  this  moment,  fervently  kissed  the  sleeve  of  her 
dress,  and  then  ran  hastily  away.  The  lady  moved 
on  slowly. 

And  the  land  did  not  heave  in  si^ht.     But  I  felt  no 

O 

impatience.  I  was  half  angry  with  myself,  because 
the  idea  of  reaching  that  America  so  much  longed 

o  o 

for  raised  in  me  no  more  emotion.  It  was  another 
moral  phenomenon  like  what  I  had  felt  during  the 
first  days  of  the  voyage  on  reaching  the  Yellow 
Sea ;  a  kind  of  syncope,  a  total  abeyance  of  curiosity 
and  of  pleasure.  As  if  not  one  of  the  ardent  louo-in^s 

L  O         O 

with  which  I  had  come  on  board  were  left  with  me, 
the  idea  of  this  new  land  awakened  only  miserable 
forebodings  of  the  annoyance  there  would  be  on 
landing, —  and  then  I  had  a  disagreeable  taste  in 

O7  O 

my  mouth  from  a  bad  cigar.  Even  the  excitement 
of  the  others  disgusted  me  ;  fools,  to  wish  to  go 
back  to  every-day  troubles,  as  if  these  last  three 
weeks  had  not  been  one  of  the  pleasantest  periods 
of  their  lives.  So  much  so,  that  to  get  out  of  their 
way  I  went  and  sat  down  in  the  commissary's  room 
and  positively  fell  to  reading  over  an  old  number 
of  the  Caffaro,  cursing,  between  one  column  and 
another,  books,  travellers,  tales,  lectures,  the  press, 
which  make  us  familiar  with  foreign  countries  and 


amerfca.  361 

preclude  all  possibility  of  first  impressions.  Great 
Heaven  !  it  is  a  fact  and  I  ought  to  be  ashamed  to 
confess  it ;  but  here,  a  few  miles  only  from  the 
shores  of  America,  I  cudgelled  my  brains  over  a 
ridiculous  charade  in  a  Genoese  newspaper,  a  cha- 
rade of  which  I  could  not  guess  "  my  second  " : 

"  My  second  is  always  in  motion," 

and  I  pervaded  in  thought  the  realms  of  nature  to  find 
the  secret,  while  the  old  hunch-backed  mariner,  as 
indifferent  to  America  as  I,  polished  the  brass  handle 
of  the  door,  droning  out  a  Ligurian  ballad  : 

"  Gh'  oa  na  votta  na  baslla  figgia — 
Once  I  saw  a  pretty  maid — " 

in  a  cracked  and  nasal  tone  which  finally  sent  me 
to  sleep. 

All  at  once  the  song  ceased  as  if  the  old  fellow's 
attention  had  been  suddenly  attracted  elsewhere,  and 
I  heard  from  the  bridge  a  long,  long,  endless,  doleful 
cry  :  "  Land  ho  ! " 

A  thrill  ran  through  me.     It  was  like  the  announce- 

O 

ment  of  a  great  unexpected  event,  the  wide,  formless 
vision  of  a  world,  which  reawakened  at  once  within 
me  curiosity,  wonder,  enthusiasm,  joy,  and  made  me 
spring  to  my  feet  with  face  suffused. 

Another  cry,  the  cry  of  a  thousand  voices,  answered 
the  first,  and  at  once  the  ship  rolled  heavily  to  star- 
board as  the  crowd  all  rushed  that  way. 

I  ran  on  deck  and   searched  the  horizon.     For  a 


362  <sm  Blue  Mater. 

few  moments  I  saw  nothing ;  then  looking  closely 
I  distinguished  a  reddish  streak  which  was  lost  to 
right  and  left  in  two  long  tongues,  like  a  light  cloud 
that  was  kissing  the  face  of  ocean. 

And  I  stood  there  for  a  moment,  gazing  like  the 
rest,  and  amazed  I  knew  not  why. 

Many  cries  broke  out  around  me  :  "  Estamos  a  casa  ! 
GJie  semmo  finalmente  !  Quatre  heures,  vingt-cinq 
minutes  \ "  exclaimed  the  Marsigliese,  looking  at  his 
watch,  "  Vheure  que  favais  prevue"  "  Ecco  la  vera 
tzerra  del  progreso ! — There  is  the  true  land  of  pro- 
gress ! "  cried  the  mill-owner.  The  tenor  merely  said 
in  a  weighty  manner:  "L'  America  !  "  The  plump 
lady,  somewhat  elevated,  called  companionably  to 
one  and  to  another  by  name  to  look  and  be  joyful 
over  that  strip  of  land.  Perhaps  it  looked  larger  to 
her  than  to  us.  The  only  locked-up  face  was  that  of 
the  Garibaldian ;  and  I  felt  a  new  sense  of  repul- 
sion. It  was  too  much,  I  thought,  and  a  poor-spirited 
thing,  to  regard  the  whole  universe  as  dead  because 
one  has  lost  half  a  dozen  illusions. 

I  ran  forward  where  a  great  silence  had  succeeded 

O 

to  the  first  tumult.  All  stood  with  eyes  fixed  on 
that  strip  of  bare  earth,  all  quiet  and  absorbed  as  if 
before  the  face  of  the  Sphynx  from  whom  they 
would  gladly  have  extorted  the  secret  of  their  future 
life  ;  or  as  if  beyond  that  reddish  streak  they  could 
see  already  the  boundless  plains  where  they  were  to 
sweat  and  toil  and  leave  their  bones  at  last.  Few 


Hmerica.  363 

spoke.  The  ship  drove  on  and  the  streak  grew 
higher  and  longer.  It  was  the  coast  of  Uruguay. 
No  sign  of  vegetation  or  of  habitation.  Many  who 
had  been  looking  forward  to  a  land  of  wonders  cried 

o 

out.  "  Why,  it 's  just  like  our  own  country  !  "  A 
group  was  talking  of  Garibaldi  who  had  fought 
upon  that  shore ;  and  to  find  after  so  many  days  an 
unknown  land  where  his  name  was  as  great  as  in 
their  own  country,  enhanced  his  glory  most  enor- 
mously. A  young  peasant  woman  with  her  child 
upon  her  knee  began  to  cry.  Her  husband  nudged 
her  hard  with  his  elbow  and  said  she  vra&fabioca, — 
a  silly  little  fool.  I  asked  a  woman  near  by  what  it 
was  about.  "  U-n?  idea"  she  said.  "  The  sight  of 
America  is  enough  to  give  her  a  pang,  because  it 
makes  her  think  she  will  never  see  her  own  land 
again,  and  so  she  cannot  help  crying." 

I  went  on  towards  the  forecastle  and  there  I  found 
a  couple  of  Turinese  workmen  seated  against  the 
bulwark.  Ah  !  I  never  shall  forget  that !  On  the 
broad  ocean,  in  sisrht  of  the  New  World  and  within 

O 

reach  of  their  new  life,  they  were  disputing  as  to  the 
precise  whereabouts  of  the  Trattoria  di  Casal  Bor- 
gone,  just  as  if  they  had  been  at  the  corner  of  the 
Via  del  Deposito  and  the  Via  del  Carmine  or  of  the 
Via  del  Carmine  and  the  Via  dei  Qtiartieri.  One  of 
them  got  angry  about  it.  In  general  the  women 
were  more  thoughtful  than  the  men.  None  were 

O 

really  merry  but  the  boys  who  kicked  and  pinched 


364  ©n  Blue  Mater, 

each  other  for  very  joy.  Some  of  the  old  people 
turned  their  backs  to  the  sea  as  if  they  had  nothing 
to  hope  from  that  strip  of  earth  except  to  die  there, 
in  peace ;  and  the  old,  old  couple  of  the  forecastle 
seated  on  the  bitts  as  usua.1,  were  fast  asleep. 

But  a  little  later,  when  the  first  effects  of  that 
sight  had  worn  off,  there  broke  out,  as  if  by  concert,  a 
boundless  jollity,  a  chorus  of  singing  and  whistling,  a 
shouting  of  people  who  crowded  around  the  canteen 
holding  up  pots  and  glasses  ;  a  sparkling  up  in  every 
direction,  as  if  they  had  in  these  few  moments  swal- 
lowed large  draughts  of  generous  wine.  All  the 
performers  performed.  The  old  fellow  of  the  mid- 
ship deck  began  to  grunt  in  character,  surrounded 
by  admirers  grinning  from  ear  to  ear.  The  noseless 
peasant  took  off  the  faces  of  women  frightened  dur- 
ing the  late  gale,  and  drew  down  a  hurricane  of  ap- 
plause. The  hairy  mountebank  came  from  forward 
and  with  sad  face  made  cartwheels  upon  the  deck 
between  two  rows  of  delighted  women ;  and  the 
ex-porter  himself,  he  of  the  bald  head,  in  a  transport 
of  joy  tore  out  the  leaves  of  his  famous  album  and 
gave  them  to  his  friends,  who  straightway  formed 
each  around  himself  a  circle  of  chuckling  sight-seers; 
so  that  from  the  kitchen  to  the  butcher's  shop  it  was 
nothing  but  suggestive  shrieks  of  laughter,  grinning 
faces,  shaking  shoulders,  and  a  deafening  clatter  of 
music,  singing  and  tipsy  cries,  above  which  rose  from 
time  to  time  the  long-drawn  howl  of  the  Venetian 


Hmerica.  36s 

barber  as  he  made  himself  a  dog  and  bayed  the 
moon. 

The  sun,  meanwhile,  had  gone  down,  right  before 
us  over  the  land,  and  we  saw  a  twilight  as  beautiful 
as  any  yet  presented  to  us  within  the  tropics. 
These  sights,  so  frequent  in  these  regions,  are  the 
result  of  a  great  mass  of  vapor  which  rises  from 
the  Plata  River  and  from  the  huge  streams  which 
form  it.  These  vapors  collecting  on  high  when  the 
air  is  calm,  are  flooded  with  light,  which  they  refract 
and  shade  off  into  tints  and  colors  which  pass  all 
imagination.  The  horizon  was  one  flaming  zone 
broken  into  shapes  of  golden  cathedral  spires;  pyra- 
mids of  rubies ;  towers  of  white-hot  iron  ;  lofty 
arches  built  of  burning  coals,  which  slowly  made 
way  for  other  shapes  less  lofty  but  more  strange, 
until  nothing  was  there  but  the  glowing  ruins  of  a 
demolished  city  and  at  last  an  endless  row  of  fierce 
Titanic  eyes  that  glared  at  us.  The  sky  above  was 
dark,  the  sea  below  was  black.  At  the  sight,  silence 
settled  down  upon  the  fore  deck  once  more,  as  if  all 
were  some  mysterious  manifestation  belonging  to  this 
region  alone.  An  island  or  two  were  seen,  Lobos  on 
the  left,  Gorriti  on  the  right.  Then  Flores,  and  then 
the  light  on  the  Archimedes  bank.  The  silence  for- 
ward was  so  profound  that  the  throb  of  the  engine 
was  distinctly  heard.  The  ship  moved  as  if  upon 
the  waters  of  a  lake. 

"  What  a  calm  sea  ! "  exclaimed  an  emigrant. 


366  <sm  Blue  Water, 

"  We  are  not  at  sea,"  said  a  sailor  near  me,  "  we 
are  in  the  river." 

The  emigrant  and  those  about  him  turned  to  look 
for  the  other  shore  and,  seeing  nothing  but  the  clear 
line  of  the  sea  horizon,  were  somewhat  doubtful ;  but 

we  were  indeed  in  the  Plata  River,  whose  risrht  bank 

*  ~ 

was  more  than  a  hundred  miles  away. 

When  the  last  rays  of  the  twilight  had  disap- 
peared, we  saw  the  light-house  of  Montevideo,  a  for- 
est of  masts,  and  a  confused  line  of  buildings  lighted 
vaguely  here  and  there. 

By  this  time,  it  was  clear  that  we  were  not  to 
land  that  evening.  Everybody  was  fatigued  by  the 
emotions  of  the  morning,  but  all  remained  on  deck 
to  enjoy  the  sight  of  coming  to  anchor. 

Accordingly,  a  little  farther  on,  the  ship  began  to 
slow  down  until  she  hardly  moved,  and  at  last  that 
mighty  heart  of  fire  and  iron,  which  had  been  beating 
so  unweariedly  for  twenty-two  clays,  gave  its  final 
throb  and  the  great  Colossus  stopped — dead.  A 
whistle  from  the  bridge,  and  two  huge  anchors  fell 
from  the  bows,  dragged,  with  thunder  sound  and 
lightning  speed,  the  great  chains  from  the  hawse- 
hole  eyes,  which  flashed  fire  the  while ;  the  sea 
foamed,  the  ship  trembled  and  then  was  still.  Her 
two  huge  talons  had  fastened  upon  the  bottom  of 
the  river. 

The  emigrants  stood  a  few  moments  to  taste  the 
new  sensation  of  utter  quiet,  and  then,  in  long  pro- 


Hmerica.  367 

cession,  descended  to  their  cabin.  The  first-class 
passengers,  no  longer  tempted  by  the  cool  breeze,  for 
it  fanned  us  no  more  when  the  ship  came  to  a  stand- 
still, soon  went  down  also. 

And  I  remained  there,  almost  alone,  amazed  that, 
after  having  so  often  thought  the  voyage  insupport- 
ably  long,  it  should  at  this  moment  seem  to  have 
been  so  short,  so  like  a  vague  passing  dream,  although 
there  was  so  much  that  I  remembered.  Having 
seen  nothing  by  the  way  to  fix  the  distance  in  my 
mind  by  any  distinct  landmarks,  so  to  speak,  each 
day  was  exactly  like  the  rest ;  and  I  seemed  to 
have  crossed  that  mighty  stretch  of  water  at  a  leap. 
Except,  perhaps,  the  hurricane,  no  incident  of  the 
voyage  has  remained  stamped  on  my  memory  like 
the  impressions  of  these,  its  last  moments.  The 
mighty  stream  was  moveless  and  still,  as  if  its  weary 
waters  were  resting;  after  their  two-thousand-mile 

o 

journey  from  the  mountains  of  Brazil ;  the  sky  was 
dark  and  tranquil ;  the  city  of  Montevideo  was  asleep, 
not  a  sound  or  a  movement  in  the  harbor;  the  ship 
was  quiet ;  the  profoimdest  silence  weighed  upon 
everything  ;  a  silence  that  seemed  to  come  from  far, 
from  great  rivers,  from  boundless  plains,  from  vast 
forests,  from  the  thousand  summits  of  the  Andes ; 
the  mysterious  and  awful  silence  of  a  slumbering 
continent. 

The  captain  roused  me  from  my  reflections  as  he 
passed  me  by,  rubbing  his  hands — a  most  unusual 


368  ©n  Elue  Mater, 

thing — as  if  in  that  rough  old  sea-dog  head  of  his 
there  was  the  comfortable  expectation  of  a  quiet 
night.  I  was  tempted  to  give  him  his  own  refrain  . 
Porcaie  a  bordo  .  .  . 

But  he  prevented  me  by  asking  me  with  a  serious 
face : 

"What  do  you  think  your  friends  at  home  are 
about  just  now  ? " 

I  looked  at  my  watch,  and  answered  :  "  At  this 
hour  my  house  is  all  dark  and  everyone  is  asleep." 

He  bewail  to  lati^b,  and  rubbed  his  hands  more 

o  o 

than  ever :    "  Anclie  voscid  scid  gibe cheito !     (Anche 
lei  c'  e  cascato) — Ah  !  my  dear  sir,  have  I  caught  you 
too  !     At  this  hour  it  is  broad  day  at  home,  and  your 
children  are  wanting  their  coffee  and  their  milk. " 
I  had  not  thought  of  that. 

O 

But  the  fine  old  captain,  who  was  in  high  good- 
humor,  asked  me  if  before  leaving  I  had  charged  the 

/  O  O 

agent  to  inform  my  family  as  soon  as  he  heard  of 
our  arrival  ? 

I  had  done  so. 

"  Well,  then,"  he  said,  "  in  three  hours  your  fam- 
ily will  know  that  we  have  reached  America — all 
well." 

I  had  not  thought  of  that  any  more  than  of  the 
other,  so  in  high  good-humor  myself,  I  went  below 
to  sleep  for  the  last  time  under  the  deck  of  the 
Galileo. 


CHAPTER  XX 


THE    PLATA    RIVER 


O   sleep?   Mentita   spemef    False 
Hope  !  — 

As  happens  to  everyone  after 
a  day  of  agitation,  to  be  followed 
by  one  not  less  agitating,  the 
passengers  slept  no  more  than 
they  were  forced  to  do  by  absolute  fatigue.  Towards 
two  in  the  morning  all  were  awake,  and  wThat  with 
sighs  from  the  ladies,  yawns  from  the  men,  and  talk 
in  undertones  which  in  the  silence  of  the  moveless 
vessel  sounded  like  the  humming  of  great  flies,  there 

O  O  ' 

was  no  more  quiet.  An  hour  before  dawn,  hurried 
steps  were  heard  and  the  voice  of  the  doctor,  sent 
for  in  haste  to  the  Signorina  from  Mestre  who  had 
fainted.  The  effort  she  had  made  to  go  on  deck  and 
visit  the  forecastle  once  more  had  been  too  much 
for  her.  Then  the  little  Brazilian  began  to  scream, 
the  negress  to  croon  to  him  ;  and  after  that  everyone, 
springing  from  his  berth,  began  noisily  to  get  his 
24  369 


370  <S>n  Blue  Mater. 

things  in  order,  chatting  and  talking  without  any 
regard  whatever.  And  when  at  daylight  the  stew- 
ards and  stewardesses,  after  wrangling  for  half  an 
hour  in  the  passages,  came  into  our  staterooms  with 
the  coffee,  they  found  everyone  on  foot,  washed  and 
brushed  and  with  the  expected  gratuity  ready  to 
hand  over. 

Kuy  Bias,  as  he  presented  the  tray,  wished  me  a 
long  and  happy  sojourn  in  America,  and  his  air  was 
as  correct  as  the  air  of  any  valet  on  the  boards ;  but 
his  voice  was  so  languid  and  his  eye  so  utterly  fishy 
that  any  child  could  perceive  how  broken  down  he 
meant  to  have  it  understood  that  he  was  at  the 
prospect  of  parting  with  that  mysterious  creature 
who  possessed  his  affections.  While  I  was  absorb- 
ing the  coffee,  he  was  looking  at  the  sky  through  the 
airport ;  biting  his  underlip  as  if  to  repress  the  ut- 
terances of  a  wounded  heart ;  and  then,  as  he  ac- 
cepted my  little  offering,  he  tempered  the  humility 
of  that  act  with  a  bow  full  of  elegance  and  dignity. 
Slipping  out  immediately  after  him,  I  saw  him 
enter  the  stateroom  of  the  priest,  whose  big  voice  I 
straightway  heard  counting  slowly — Dos,  tres,  cinco, 
seis ;  francs,  as  I  surmise,  which  Ruy  Bias  had  to 
receive  with  open  hand  like  a  beggar,  but  quivering 
with  shame  as  he  thought  of  the  queen  of  his  soul. 

On  deck  I  found  the  captain  and  officers  on  duty. 
A  gallooned  official  of  the  port  of  Montevideo  and  a 
doctor  had  come  on  board  ;  the  former  a  great  big 


t£be  Plata  IRivet,  371 

man  with  a  thread  of  a  voice,  the  latter  a  little  man 
with  a  voice  like  a  bass  drum ;  and,  having  inquired 
into  the  sanitary  condition  of  the  passengers,  the  two 
went  forward  to  count  the  crew.  All  the  third- 
class  passengers,  the  while,  were  being  assembled  on 
the  main  deck  in  order  to  pass  in  review  before  the 
Uruguayan  official,  that  he  might  number  them,  and 
before  the  doctor  that  he  might  set  aside  suspected 
cases.  From  amidships  they  were  to  pass  one  by 
one  over  the  bridge  which  spans  the  piazzetta,  and 
then,  leaving  the  deck  by  the  starboard  ladder,  go 
forward  again.  Upon  the  ample  midship  deck  there 
wras  not  one  square  foot  of  empty  space ;  a  crowd 
as  dense  as  a  regiment  in  column  covered  it  from 
one  end  to  the  other ;  all  silent,  save  for  a  slight 
murmur.  The  sky  was  cloudy  ;  the  enormous  river 
of  a  yellow  mud  color.  The  far-off  city  of  Monte- 
video appeared  like  a  long  whitish  streak  upon  the 
brown  coast,  rising  at  the  western  end  upon  the 
solitary  Cerro,  the  hill  of  Garibaldi :  a  simple  and 
majestic  landscape  which  silently  awaited  the  com- 
ing of  the  sun.  In  the  distance  could  be  perceived 
the  smoke  of  two  or  three  small  steamers  that  were 
coming  out  to  us. 

I  went  on  deck  to  see  for  the  last  time  my  sixteen 
hundred  fellow-travellers.  The  captain,  the  officers, 
the  ship's  surgeon,  and  the  Uruguayan  official  with 
the  doctor  came  up  a  moment  afterwards  and  the 
sad  procession  commenced.  Sad,  not  only  in  itself, 


372  ©n  Blue  Mater. 

but  because,  counting  that  throng  like  a  herd  of 
animals  without  care  for  any  name,  gave  the  idea 
that  the  poor  creatures  were  told  off  for  sale ;  that 
we  saw  not  citizens  of  a  European  state,  but  victims 
of  a  raid  of  kidnappers  upon  the  shores  of  Africa  or 
Asia.  The  first  passed  slowly,  but  seeing  that  the 
port  official  showed  impatience,  the  captain  made  a 
sign  and  the  rest  moved  on  more  rapidly,  filing  by 
almost  on  the  run.  Families  passed  together ;  the 
father  first,  then  the  women  with  their  infants  in  their 
arms  and  leading  the  older  children  by  the  hand ; 
the  old  people  came  last.  Almost  all  had  with  them 
bundles  of  property  too  precious  to  be  left  in  the 
cabin.  Many  were  neat  and  clean  ;  dressed  in  good 
clothes  which  they  had  kept  for  that  occasion. 
Others  were  worse  off  than  when  they  set  out;  ragged, 
and  soiled  with  all  the  uncleanness  to  be  gathered 
by  lying  about  for  three  weeks  in  every  corner  of  a 
crowded  ship.  There  were  unshaven  beards  and 
bare  necks.  There  were  some  with  toes  out  of  their 
shoes  ;  some  even  hatless  ;  and  more  than  one  holding 
together  with  both  hands  a  buttonless  jacket  to 
conceal  the  hairy  nakedness  of  his  breast.  Pretty 
girls,  bowed  old  men,  striplings  of  twenty  years  old 
workmen  in  blouses,  long-haired  priests,  Calabrese 
peasant  women  with  their  green  corsets,  North  Lorn- 
bardy  pipers,Brianza  women  with  the  radiating  crown 
of  long  pins  stuck  in  their  hair,  and  women  from  the 
mountains  of  Piedmont  with  their  white  caps. 


•bavbor  Steamer  an!>  36arge. 


374  <§>n  Blue  Mater. 

All  these  came  on  in  endless  procession,  each  one 
stepping  in  the  other's  tracks,  as  on  a  scaffold  at  the 
back  when  the  flight  of  a  whole  people  is  to  be  rep- 
resented on  the  stage.  Some  skipped  along  as  if  to 
show  how  light-hearted  they  were ;  others  passed 
with  grim  faces,  looking  at  no  one,  as  if  offended  at 
this  exposure  that  was  made  of  them.  The  bour- 
geois and  the  middle-class  women,  who  yet  had 
about  them  some  signs  of  former  prosperity,  went  by 
with  heads  down,  all  ashamed.  The  slow  old  people 
and  the  encumbered  women  were  shoved  aside  or 
driven  brutally  on  by  those  who  came  behind ;  the 
child ren  cried  for  fear  of  being  trodden  on ;  those 
who  were  jostled  cursed  and  swore.  How  many 
faces  that  I  knew  well  did  I  see  go  by  !  There  is 
the  man  that  sent  the  telegram  to  his  wife,  his  face 
full  of  jolly  wrinkles  and  looking  as  if  he  believed 
us  yet.  There  is  that  old  orator  in  the  green  frock, 
running  by  with  his  gray  head  bare  as  usual,  and 
casting  a  look  of  hate  and  defiance  at  the  first-class 

O 

passengers  on  the  deck  above.  There  is  the  tattooed 
mountebank  ;  the  two  slatternly  choristers  ;  the  fam- 
ily from  Mestre,  with  young  Galileo,  who  takes  his 
breakfast  as  he  goes  along ;  there  is  the  ex-porter 
with  his  pictures ;  the  fair  Genoese,  who  goes  by 
with  blushing  cheek  and  eyes  cast  down  ;  the  large 
Bolofrnese  crossing  the  bridge  with  imperial  walk, 

O  O  O  A 

her  inseparable  satchel  at  her  side  ;  the  Madonna  of 
Capracotta,  the  barking  barber,  the  putative  homi- 


{Plata  1Ri\>er.  375 

cide  of  the  forecastle,  and  the  poor  widow  of  the 
murdered  man. 

As  they  filed  along,  all  the  sad  and  comical  inci- 
dents of  that  strange  life  of  twenty-two  days  passed 
through  my  mind  ;  the  varied  feelings  of  disgust 
and  of  sympathy,  of  kindness  and  of  mistrust,  which 
those  people  had  raised  in  me ;  all  now  lost  in  one 
deep  sentiment  of  sorrowful  and  tender  pity.  And 
still  they  went  by  as  if  their  number  had  been 
doubled  in  the  night.  Family  after  family,  chil- 
dren and  yet  more  children,  city  faces,  country  faces, 
from  Northern  Italy,  from  Southern  Italy;  good 
honest  creatures,  brigands,  invalids,  ascetics,  old 
soldiers,  beggars,  rebels,  passing  ever  fast  and  faster, 
as  if  urged  by  the  dread  of  not  reaching  America  in 
time  to  get  their  bit  of  bread  and  their  strip  of  earth. 

What  a  procession  !  Endless,  most  pitiful !  And 
at  the  back  of  all  this  grievous  misery,  imagination 
held  up  to  me,  as  in  mockery,  the  patriotic  rejoicings 
of  the  idle,  the  prosperous,  and  the  unthinking,  as  they 
shout  with  holiday  enthusiasm  in  the  banner-dressed 
and  glittering  squares  of  Italy.  I  felt  a  humiliation 
which  made  me  shun  the  regard  of  foreigners  who 

O  O 

were  in  the  ship  with  me  and  whose  affected  excla- 
mations of  pity  and  surprise  were  only  so  many 
reproaches  to  my  country.  And  still  those  ragged 
garments,  those  white  hairs,  those  withered  women, 
those  children  without  a  country,  that  nakedness, 
that  shame,  that  misery  kept  filing  on.  The  spec- 


376  ©n  Blue  Mater, 

tacle  endured  for  half  an  hour,  which  seemed  a  whole 
eternity.  At  length  the  friar  with  his  face  of  wax, 
his  hands  buried  in  his  sleeves,  went  slowly  by ; 
then  came  the  little  band  of  Swiss  with  their  red 
caps,  and  at  last, — at  last  there  was  an  end  of  it. 

From  the  first  tender  that  reached  us  there  came 
on  board  a  tribe  of  people,  friends  and  relatives  of 
the  passengers ;  who,  running  through  the  ship, 
sought  for  the  faces  and  called  out  the  names  of 
those  they  were  to  meet.  Then  began  the  greetings, 
the  embraciugs,  and  the  kissings.  Three  gentlemen 
approached  the  one  we  had  called  the  "  thief,"  and 
while  we  were  waiting  to  see  them  take  him  into 
custody,  uncovered,  and  profoundly  bowing  addressed 
him  as  Monsieur  leMinistre.  There  !  That  is  what 
it  is  to  judge  of  a  man  by  what  one  can  see.  But 
we  had  not  time  to  be  properly  astonished,  for  our 
attention  was  straightway  drawn  to  a  painful  scene. 
A  young  gentleman,  well  dressed  and  handsome,  but 
repellent  of  look,  came  rushing  towards  my  two 
neighbors  of  below,  who  ran  to  meet  him  exclaiming 
"  Attilio  ! "  But  at  a  couple  of  paces  off  they  stood 
still,  waiting  for  him  to  select  one  for  the  first  em- 
brace, as  if  that  choice  were  to  be  his  final  judgment 
of  the  past  and  their  sentence  for  the  future.  The 
youth  hesitated  for  a  moment,  looking  at  them  both 
but  wholly  without  emotion  ;  then  flung  himself  into 
the  lady's  arms.  She  clasped  him  to  her  breast  with 
what  would  have  seemed  deep  tenderness  had  it 


Plata  TCix>er.  377 

not  been  belied  by  a  Satanic  look  of  triumph  which 
she  cast  in  that  very  moment  at  her  husband.  He 
turned  as  pale  as  death  and  seemed  about  to  fall  to 
the  deck,  but  he  controlled  himself  with  an  effort 
and  looked  around  him  with  a  smile  most  dreadful 
and  most  piteous  to  see.  The  young  gentleman, 
leaving  the  mother,  approached  him  and  pressed 
upon  his  pale  cheek  a  cold  kiss  which  the  father 
seemed  powerless  to  return.  All  turned  their  eyes 
away  with  horror,  as  if  from  the  sight  of  murder; 
and  I  myself  hastened  forward  without  daring  to 
cast  another  look  upon  the  unhappy  man. 

And  here  another  piteous  scene  awaited  me.  A 
knot  of  old  people,  men  and  women,  surrounded  the 
commissary ;  frightened,  anxious,  and  begging  with 
trembling  lips  for  comfort  and  advice.  These  were 
the  solitary  sexagenarians  who  could  not  land  with- 
out some  relative  to  answer  for  their  subsistence. 
But  the  relatives  they  expected  had  not  appeared  ; 
and  naturally  enough,  for  the  landing  was  to  be 
made  at  Buenos  Ayres ;  but,  confounding  Uruguay 
with  Argentina,  they  gave  themselves  up  for  lost. 
What  was  to  become  of  them  !  Imagine  the  despair 
and  agony  of  these  poor  creatures,  who,  having  left 
Europe,  found  themselves,  as  they  supposed,  rejected 
from  America  like  useless  human  carcasses,  not  even 
good  for  fertilizing  the  ground,  and  frantic  already 
with  the  idea  of  returning  to  a  country  where  they 
would  find  no  one  to  love  them,  no  house  to  live  in, 


378  ©n  Blue  Water, 

no  bread  to  eat.  The  commissary  tried  to  persuade 
them  that  they  were  in  Uruguay  and  not  in  Argen- 
tina, that  their  friends  were  to  meet  them  in  Buenos 
Ayres,  on  the  other  side  of  the  river  which  they 
saw  before  them,  that  they  were  tormenting  them- 
selves about  nothing,  that  they  should  take  courage. 
But  they  would  hear  no  reason,  they  were  stunned 
with  fright,  and  seemed  only  the  more  miserable 
and  unhappy  in  the  midst  of  the  joyous  and  noisy 
young  fellows  who  jostled  them  at  every  moment, 
crying  out:  "  Courage,  old  fellows! — Long  live  the 
Republic  !— Viva  I'America  !— Viva  la  Plata  ! " 

I  managed  to  get  the  commissary  aside  for  a 
moment,  and  in  taking  leave  of  him  gathered  some 
final  news  of  the  poor  young  bookkeeper.  In  despair 
at  seeing  the  last  of  his  fair  Genoese,  who  landed 

O  ' 

at  Montevideo,  he  was  in  convulsions  and  was  up- 
setting the  whole  cabin.  Then  I  went  to  shake 

o 

hands  with  the  other  officers,  whom  I  was  to  see 
two  months  later  at  Buenos  Ayres,  after  their  return 
from  Italy  once  more.  And  I  wished  also  to  see 
my  poor  old  hunchback.  I  found  him  at  the  door 
of  the  kitchen  with  a  saucepan  in  his  hand.  "  Oh  !  at 
last ! "  he  exclaimed,  with  a  si^h  of  satisfaction. 

7  O 

"  Twelve  days  without  any  women  ! "  "  Yes,"  I  said, 
"and  I  suppose  you  will  end  by  taking  a  wife." 
Ml!  he  answered,  touching  his  bosom  with  his  fin- 

O 

ger.  Piggm  mofjge  ! — a  I  a  wife  !  "  Then,  speaking 
Italian  with  a  queer  declamatory  accent,  "  That  will 


Ube  flMata  1Rix>er.  379 

never  be " ;  and  he  whispered  joyously  in  my  ear 
"  Twelve  days ! "  But  seeing  the  captain  coming,  he 
squeezed  my  hand  and  hurriedly  saying  "  Scignoria, 
bon  viaggio  !  "  he  turned  his  poor  crooked  back  and 
was  seen  no  more. 

Meanwhile  some  more  tenders  had  come  along- 
side and  one  was  at  the  after  gangway.  I  went  on 
deck  again  to  say  good-bye  to  the  passengers  who 
were  getting  into  her  in  a  confusion  of  baggage  and 
a  turmoil  of  hand-shaking  and  mutual  good  wishes. 
Here,  too,  was  another  proof  of  how  difficult  it  is 
to  know  much  about  people  on  a  voyage.  Some 
passengers,  with  whom  I  had  been  all  the  time  on 
terms  of  intimacy  almost  friendly,  went  off  without 
saying  so  much  as  "  Go  to  the  deuce  ! "  (Crepa  !J,  or 
at  most  with  a  tip  of  the  hat,  as  if  they  had  forgotten 
me.  Others,  with  whom  I  had  not  exchanged  a  word, 

*  o  / 

came  to  take  leave  with  an  affectionate  sincerity 
that  amazed  me.  And  the  same  thing  happened  to 
other  people.  The  Marsigliese  was  cordial.  He 
said  over  and  over  again  that  he  was  fond  of  Italy, 
because  men  like  himself  were  superior  to  the 
jealousies  of  governments,  and  that  he  was  going 
to  do  his  best  to  make  Italians  and  French  get  on 
with  one  another  in  Argentina.  rlacliez  d'enfaire 
autant  parmi  vos  compatriotes.  Quant1  a  moi,  on  me 
connait  dans  les  deux  colonies.  On  salt,  he  con- 
cluded with  a  solemn  gesture,  que  fapporte  la  paix. 
Adieu!  The  agent  presented  himself  to  take  leave 


380  <§>n  Blue  Mater. 

of  the  young  couple  who  were  embarrassed  by  their 
just  dread  of  a  Parthian  shot.  "  I  imagine,"  he 
said,  that  you  will  not  have  any  more  difficulty  with 
the  language  in  America  after  so  much  practice — 
you  know." — And  they  ran  down  the  ladder.  Then 
he  set  upon  the  poor  advocate,  who  was  just  de- 
scending with  a  round  roll  of  something,  probably  a 
life  preserver,  under  his  arm.  "  Avvocato,"  he  said, 
"  I  suppose  you  feel  now  that  all  your  troubles  are 
over."  But  the  other,  eying  the  water  askance, 
growled  out :  "  There 's  no  knowing  ;  sometimes  this 
beastly  river  is  worse  than  the  Atlantic  Ocean  "• 
and  down  he  went,  with  all  possible  precaution, 
taking  no  notice  of  anybody.  The  blonde  lady 
and  her  husband  passed  down,  then  my  neigh- 
bors with  their  sou,  then  the  "  beast  tamer,"  the 
pianist  with  her  mother,  the  Frenchmen,  the  priest, 
the  second-class  passengers,  and  others. 

When  all  were  off  and  seated  on  the  little  quarter- 
deck, the  agent  gave  me  a  nudge  with  his  elbow, 
exclaiming  "Eureka!"  Following  his  eye,  I  looked 
to  the  right  and  saw  on  the  deck  of  the  Galileo, 
leaning  against  the  bulwark  in  the  correct  attitude 

~          O 

of  a  thoughtful  and  afflicted  lover,  Ruy  Bias,  his 
regards  fixed  upon  the  tender.  They  pointed  di- 
rectly at  the  little  piano-player,  pale  and  impassive 
as  ever,  but  with  her  eyes  fastened  upon  him  and 
giving  no  uncertain  promise  on  the  first  occasion  of 
one  of  those  mad  letters,  those  rash  outbreaks  of 


Ube  Plata  1Rtx>er.  381 

writing,  in  which  she  worked  off  from  a  distance  her 
morsels  of  suppressed  passion.  "Ah  poor  little 
Maria  of  Neubourg,"  said  the  agent,  "Queen  of 
dead  cats  !  "  But  the  tender  was  moving  off.  All 
waved  their  hands.  The  plump  lady  blew  a  kiss  to 
the  Galileo  with  an  ardent  gesture.  I  saw  once 
more  my  poor  neighbor  seated  at  a  distance  from 
his  wife  and  son.  A  fresh  life  of  misery  and  torture 
was  beginning  for  him.  And  I  caught  flying  as  it 
were  a  queer  salute  from  the  Swiss  lady,  who,  not 
knowing  which  to  select  from  the  many  friends  who 
were  looking  at  her  from  above,  took  in  with  one 
wide  glance  of  sweet  gratitude  the  whole  of  the 
Galilee?  s  quarter-deck.  The  last  one  that  I  marked 
was  the  professor  seated  next  her,  his  back  bent, 
smiling  with  half-shut  eyes  and  his  tongue  in  his 
cheek,  as  if  in  mockery  of  his  wife,  her  lovers,  the 
Atlantic  Ocean,  the  old  continent  and  the  new. 
Then  all  these  faces  melted  away  and  were  lost  to 
my  sight  forever. 

Meanwhile  there  came  alongside  another  tender, 
which  was  to  take  off  the  Argentines,  the  Brazilian 
family,  and  all  the  rest.  But  from  delicacy  no  one 
would  go  down  before  the  young  lady  from  Mestre, 
who  as  was  well  known  wrould  have  to  be  carried 
and  who  had  not  yet  appeared  on  deck.  The  cap- 
tain shook  his  head  when  asked  about  her.  All 
were  waiting  in  double  line  at  the  door  of  the 
saloon.  First  came  out  the  Garibaldian,  who,  taking 


382  <§m  Blue  Mater. 

what  was  a  mark  of  respect  for  mere  curiosity,  cast 
round  him  a  glance  of  scorn.  The  poor  sick  lady, 
dressed  in  black  and  pale  as  a  corpse,  rested  her 
head  on  the  back  of  the  chair  and  her  hands  on  her 
knees  as  if  she  could  no  longer  lift  them,  but  in  her 
eyes  so  quenched  and  languid,  and  on  her  lips  through 
which  no  breathing  seemed  to  pass,  there  was  still 
that  smile  of  hers  so  sad  and  yet  so  infinitely  sweet. 
All  uncovered  as  she  passed,  and  her  only  answer 
was  a  kind  but  soundless  motion  of  the  lips.  The 
sailors  who  were  bearing  her  stopped  at  the  enter- 
ing port.  The  captain,  hat  in  hand,  saluted  her  with 
the  curt  speech  under  which  many  gruff  men  con- 
ceal real  emotion.  "Pleasant  journey  to  you,  sign- 
orina ;  I  hope  you  will  get  well."  Then  turned 
sharply  to  order  that  the  emigrants  who  were  crowd- 
ing around  to  see  the  young  lady  and  were  keeping 
the  air  from  her,  should  be  made  to  stand  back. 
They  stood  back,  murmuring  angrily,  but  ascended  to 
the  deck  above  to  see  her  carried  down  and  watch 
her  departure.  The  Garibaldian  was  the  last  to 
speak  to  her  at  the  head  of  the  ladder.  She  gave 
him  her  hand,  which  he  kissed,  and  then,  raising  her 
forefinger  with  a  kind  reproving  air,  she  said  a  word 
which  I  did  not  catch.  He  bent  his  head  without 
reply.  The  two  sailors  began  to  descend  with  great 
care,  one  lifting  the  chair  in  front  and  one  behind 
and  begging  the  invalid  to  hold  on  well.  The  aunt 
came  after  them,  warning  her  niece  not  to  look  at 


Hs  tbc?  sail  out  of  barbor. 


384  ©n  Blue  Mater. 

the  water.  When  they  reached  the  bottom,  a  hand 
on  board  the  tender  helped  the  other  two,  and  quite 
gently  they  placed  her  on  the  after  deck  with  her 
face  to  the  steamer.  The  other  passengers  then 
went  down  and  took  their  places.  The  Garibaldian 
alone  remained  on  board,  leaning  on  the  bulwark 
not  far  from  me.  And  the  tender  moved  off. 

Then  the  emigrants  crowding  against  the  rail  of 
the  upper  deck  broke  out  into  gratitude  and  ad- 
miration of  that  angelic  creature,  whom  they  had 
seen  so  often  amongst  their  number,  touched  by  their 
misery,  gentle  to  them  as  a  sister,  and  from  whom 
so  many  of  them  had  received  consolation  and  sub- 
stantial gifts.  No  cry  was  heard,  but  rather  a  long 
murmur  of  greetings  in  which  there  seemed  to  go 
out  to  her  all  the  good  and  all  the  purity  which  the 
bitterness  and  sorrow  of  a  toilsome  existence  had 
left  in  these  poor  people.  u  Buon  viaggio, — signorina  ! 
— God  bless  you  ! — God  restore  you  ! — Don't  forget 
us  ! — Fair  befall  our  friend  ! — Adieu  ! — Good-bye  !  " 
And  they  waved  their  hats  and  handkerchiefs.  But 
she  answered  only  with  a  feeble  motion  of  the  hand; 
and  then,  raising  her  sweet  dim  eyes  to  her  friend's 
stern  face,  she  made  with  the  same  hand  the  same 
motion,  with  the  forefinger  as  before,  as  if  to  say, 
"  Remember  !  " 

The  tender  was  already  at  a  distance,  but  the 
young  creature's  form  came  out  clear  on  the  quarter- 
deck, like  a  dark  flower  in  a  nosegay  of  many 


Ube  Plata  IRiver.  385 

colors.  When  it  showed  but  as  a  black  dot  in  the 
distance,  something  white  was  seen  to  move  in  front 
of  it.  The  waving  of  a  handkerchief.  It  was  for 

O 

him.  I  looked.  Ah  !  that  is  too  much  !  Not  to  be 
moved  at  such  a  moment !  But,  as  I  said  this  to  my- 
self, his  brow  frowned,  his  lip  trembled,  his  bosom 
swelled,  and  a  sob  burst  from  his  very  heart — one 
only, — short,  sharp,  deep,  irrepressible,  as  if  his  whole 
soul  had  surged  up  like  a  billow  of  ocean.  He 
covered  his  face  with  his  hands.  Had  the  tears 
come  at  last!  Perhaps  it  was  human  kindness,  love, 
patriotism,  pity  for  his  fellow-creature's  trouble ; 
perhaps  it  was  all  the  deep,  strong  virtues  of  his 
generous  nature  that  had  rushed  back  into  that 
breast  of  iron  through  the  little  rift  made  by  the 
waft  of  a  dying  hand.  Perhaps  it  was  that  the 
storm-hardened  soldier,  as  his  great  mother,  Nature, 
laid  a  finger  on  his  shoulder,  flung  himself  upon  her 
breast,  once  more  entreating  her  forgiveness  and 
promising  to  love  and  serve  her  as  in  the  bright 
years  of  his  faith  and  his  enthusiasm.  The  vision 
had  passed,  the  bright  creature  was  soon  to  die,  but 
her  last  smile,  which  was  something  more  than  human, 
would  light  his  pathway  to  the  end,  and  that  flutter- 
ing bit  of  white  would  ever  dwell  upon  the  horizon 
of  his  life,  the  sign  of  his  redemption. 

He  remained  leaning  with  folded  arms  against  the 
bulwark,  as  if  riveted  in  his  place  by  some  new  and 
deep  emotion  which  had  fastened  upon  his  soul. 


386  ©n  Blue  Mater. 

He  was  still  there  as,  standing  among  a  group  of 
friends  on  board  another  tug,  I  saw  the  colossal 
Galileo  grow  short  and  low  before  my  eyes,  but 
still  with  the  thousand  heads  of  those  emigrants 
swarming  at  her  bulwarks,  like  a  crowd  of  people 
on  the  bastion  of  a  solitary  fortress.  And  passing 
rapidly  in  review  that  twenty-two  days'  journey,  I 
seemed  to  have  been  living  in  a  world  apart,  a  life 
which,  reproducing  in  miniature  the  events  and 
passions  of  the  universe,  had  cleared  and  quick- 
ened my  judgment  of  men  and  things.  Much 
wickedness  there  is,  much  shameful  sin,  much  viol- 
ence, but  far  more  misery  and  sorrow.  The  larger 
part  of  humanity  is  more  sinned  against  than  sinning, 
and  suffers  more  than  it  inflicts.  After  hating  and 
despising  mankind,  with  no  other  result  than  to 
embitter  life,  and  aggravate  around  us  that  very 
wickedness  that  has  rendered  it  odious  and  detest- 
able, we  come  back  to  the  only  feeling  that  is  wise 
and  good  : — to  love  and  pity  for  mankind  ;  a  feeling 
from  which  all  good  arises,  and  out  of  which  the  sure 
and  certain  hope  springs  up  that,  in  spite  of  dubious 
signs,  the  enormous  mass  of  misery  in  the  world  is 
getting  less  and  less,  and  the  soul  of  man  is  surely 
growing  better. 

As  I  put  foot  on  shore  I  turned  to  look  at  the 
Galileo,  and  my  heart  swelled  at  bidding  her  adieu, 
as  if  she  were  a  little  strip  of  my  own  country  which 
had  sailed  across  the  sea  and  brought  me  to  that 


TIbe  Plata  IRiver. 


387 


spot.  She  was  bat  a  black  dash  upon  the  horizon  of 
that  mighty  river,  yet  I  could  see  her  flag  as  it  flowed 
and  floated  in  the  early  rays  of  the  American  sun. 
It  was  as  if  Italy,  with  a  last  salute,  commended  her 
wandeiing  children  to  their  new  adopted  mother. 

FINIS. 


A     000036186     5 


